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Topeka, KS
Making progress with bulbs and such. The adjust failure was due to 20+ year old batteries exploding in the battery holder. I cleaned it up and scraped terminals and it's working fine. I need to finish cleaning it out, for sure.
At some point I plan on depopulating, pulling mylar, and trying to deal with discoloration/ball swirls. For the most part I think my playfield has a really good shot at being restored, rather than having to be hardtopped. The cabinet itself looks GREAT for the most part. I'll replace the left ramp when I do that, since mine is in bad shape (thankfully it appears to just be cosmetic for right now).
Some of these GI bulbs really suck..but I think I'm going to hold out and wait for sunlight 2SMDs (rather than the warm white I was installing) because of how dark this thing is.
Other than the battery cleanup and the fact that this thing is FILTHY, it plays like a beast! Well adjusted and pretty much ready to go. 
She claimed it was HUO (not in those words of course) and I believe it. Maybe I'll just go over the top with making this one ridiculously nice. Idk.
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received_1692509867554528 (resized).jpegWhoops, it snuck in to my dining room/work area while the wife was away.... 
LEDs about 85% done. Finishing it out with warm white for now. Money's a bit tight right now but I WANTED sunlight. Oh well.
Some of this GI is really making my life miserable. Granted I should really tear down the topside entirely and CLEAN, thoroughly...but that's gonna have to wait.
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Quoted from Y3AG3R:Really like the stop light bumper colors
Thank you! I liked it so much on the high speed that I hardtopped, I felt it needed to be on Taxi too!
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It's not the cheapest mod in the world, at $50 for covers and Evo bulbs, but I love it! The evos don't photograph very well because they always look BLINDING with this phone. They're definitely bright but not blinding, in person.
I wiped down this Taxi cab down with Clorox wipes earlier, and I'm stunned how clean it is. Check it out!
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The front is the only part that's not so great..the door is getting powdercoated and I might repaint just the front. Touch-up would be fine too but it might be difficult to match, idk. It's by no means 'bad', it's just not as nice as the rest of the cab.
Quoted from Toine79:Where can man find those coin door Williams loge assembly?
Good question. I checked eBay and didn't see any exactly like this. I asked my powder guy if he could leave the Williams logo a different color (gray/silver, or chrome if possible).. I'll have to make sure to tell him to be extra careful with the door because I'm not sure I can buy a replacement lol
Quoted from Kerry_Richard:I painted my coin door, then took sandpaper to sand off "W" logo down to the metal. I really like the look!
I'll try to post pict.
That's a really good idea, too!
Quoted from Kerry_Richard:I applied new decals, then 4 coats of automotive clear, wet sanded 800 / 1200 / 1500 and polished. The metal is powder coated black, except coin door which I painted.
Gorgeous work. I'm torn on what to do with mine. The entire cab looks GORGEOUS..... Except the front. But from my understanding this is a nightmare to match, which means repainting would be irritating and touching up would probably be even worse. Bleh
IMG_20200710_044538 (resized).jpgQuoted from Bellagio:When I began clearing the cabinet on my Taxi for restoration, I was under the impression that the pf had molex quick disconnects like High Speed. I found that it does not and that the 3 harnesses that come from the pf (switches, lamps and solenoids) break out into about 10 direct connections to various boards in the head. There is also a molex connector for the cabinet wiring harness that goes to the coin door, cab switches, bell etc.
It's very tedious, but I'm currently in the process of making molex quick disconnects for the pf so I can just pop a few plugs and pull the pf out whenever I want to without having to deal with all the pcb connections in the head. I'm guessing the change from quick disconnects to direct pcb connection was a labor/parts cost saving measure at Williams.
Noticed that myself. Thinking also along the lines of high speed, which I removed probably 30 damn times throughout the hardtop process, I expected the same with taxi. I was going to take it down in three pieces to really make it easier on myself. Nope.
The molex idea sounds decent, you could knock out one at a time over the peroid of a month and never really have the machine "down" for too long.
I hate my molex crimper. Every time I use it the crimps look like garbage.
Quoted from Leeb18509:It's not as bad as it seems since almost all the connectors are keyed for specific spots. I used to mark on the connector with a thin sharpie which plugs went where (J121, etc.) . You could do that.
Yeah, I'm doing that anyway so I can eventually send all the boards off for bulletproofing. They're all done now except the lamp board. I just didn't know if off hand anyone knew exactly which actually needed removed to pull the head. I'll poke around until I figure it out.
Not bad, maybe a bit heavy on sys11. My World Cup Soccer boards are on their way back soon.. Then I get to hope like hell I can get them all hooked back up.
Of course, the two PRIMO pins aren't shown...
Jack's is off by itself like the dork it is, meteor is in timeout for being a jerk. 
IMG_20200708_150939 (resized).jpgIMG_20200713_215626 (resized).jpgQuoted from MoSeS_1592:I like the Rick Sanchez head laying next to the vintage boombox in your photo. That is one of my favorite shows haha.
There's another vintage boombox near cactus Jack's!
I need to get caught up on R&M. It's great!
1 week later
The spotlights look great but I think the cooler white clashes a lot, at least in that picture. My Evo pop lights are similar, with the cooler white bottom lighting. I think it looks meh with the otherwise warm white 2SMD GI I went with.
*Hopefully you don't take offense to what I just said; your taxi looks good.
Quoted from ChrisPINk25:ksuwildcatfan no offense. I only had a cool white trough light strip, so I put cool white in the spots. I may switch them to warm and see how it looks with the cool white trough light. Gotta get a comet order in! lol
I'm mad there's no option for warm white with Evo BriteCaps. I think they look a bit stupid in my high speed and taxi, both of which have warm white GI.
But I love the extra light in the pops so it is what it is...
Quoted from Pablito350:I'm partial to warm white 2smd's on this era game for all of the playfield GI.
[quoted image]
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The center of the playfield does look a little dark in photos, but it's more of a matter of not setting the exposure correctly on my phone. In person it's not nearly as dark as it looks in the pics.
(I am however going to put incandescent bulbs back in under the 5 characters' inserts.)
Warm white 1smd's in the backbox except I kept incandescent bulbs behind Lola.
[quoted image]
-Paul
Looks fantastic. I also love the 2SMD warm whites. I was going to go with the sunlights which do look really good, but I'm a sucker for warm white on most Sys11 games--games like F-14 being the exception where cool white looks boss IMO.
Quoted from Jmckune:Here’s another system 11 where I think cool reigns supreme. I can agree that Taxi looks good either way. The blue and lightning theme on this one just screams cool to me though.
[quoted image]
Absolutely agree.
1 week later
My phone camera struggles to take good pics of my taxi, also with 2Smd warm white comet throughout. The pop area is so bright now in comparison to everything else that my camera has to choose which to accentuate. HDR is a bit better result but it's tough to do that since the GI flashes during the test... Lol
Man letting go of taxi would be tough. I considered moving mine to make a play at a bad cats but thankfully it sold before I made my offer. Taxi is just amazing.
Quoted from Jmckune:As someone who owns both of those games. Never do that. Bat Cats has really fun music and the ramps are fun, but overall gameplay doesn’t hold a candle.
Oh I know that. It was definitely just a play for rarity on a really nice example of a game that I want. That would have been a guy wrenching deal for me lol
F-14 is the only game in my lineup that's on the chopping block, per se, and really only because I'm already in too deep $wise and I don't want to be tempted to hardtop and fix the cab. I love the game, like I do with pretty much all the games I own. But as with anything, I always like adding new games... Lol
What I figured when I started down the road of considering making an offer (again, that ship has sailed now), I can always get another taxi later. I can even buy an absolutely torched one and just hardtop it myself. Tons of options. Not so much with bad cats. Alas, it's gone now, so I'm going to just have to soothe my tears with what I already own.
1 week later
I'm frustrated as hell trying to dial in this shooter lane situation..can someone show me what their properly dialed-in shooter lane situation looks like with a ball in the trough? I have a feeling that I've got MULTIPLE issues now that need fixed, and I'd like to see just how the ball is *supposed* to sit in comparison to the rod. There's a gap in-between mine and I'm thinking that (among other things) is certainly part of why I can't ever crack 50K on the spin out.
Quoted from Barr993:KSUWildcatFan
Make sure:
- you have the red spring
- cabinet is level side-to-side and not twisting due to legs at different heights
- shooter is adjusted to hit ball dead center
- shooter sleeve is in good condition
- shooter tip is in good condition and not mushroomed
- if your limo is screwed to the shooter lane wireform, be sure the screws are not protruding into the ball path
- use a regular rubber shooter tip and make sure it fits tight to the rod tip. Titan has too much give and soaks up energy.
I had all the above issues except for the correct spring...now get all the way around and back up to 10.
Has a red spring, rebuilt the entire assembly several times with different parts now, to no avail. Limo is screwed down and has not been touched.
Worked PERFECTLY when I had it laying on my dolly in my garage (not on legs). The assembly came out with all sorts of gunk in the sleeve. Has not worked well since rebuilding it.
I leveled it and I'm pretty sure it's not twisting, but I'll double check to be sure.
At this point I'm pretty sure I've screwed up the way it rests in the shooter lane and I've probably screwed up where the rod needs to be by adjusting the outer plate. I'm effectively at a point of 'totally screwed', regardless of where it was when I bought it. Super frustrating.
2 weeks later
Great post on the shooter adjustment. I still need to tackle mine, I've just been busy.. And kind of lazy. Unfortunately both taxi and high speed have taken backseats in my lineup lately due to gremlins I'm just too lazy/frustrated to address. But I'm going to revisit this shooter nonsense soon, because my game works great otherwise. I agree, having crappy spinout performance really does sour the gameplay. It's not so much, to me, that the scores themselves are affected (if yours works so well that you can go well past 100k and you hit 1-25k a bunch, you're basically where I am with a crappy plunge). But it really irritates me seeing it not work worth a damn, ESPECIALLY considering it worked great before I rebuilt it and has been crap since. Gah! I will beat you, shooter assembly!
Quoted from grandy:I struggled with mine forever until i did a slo-mo video of the shooting and realized that the extensive wear in the shooter lane was causing the ball to bounce a little laterally and taking the momentum away. Good luck finding your hidden cause!
Yeah I need to record mine too. It almost seems like the shooter rod isn't pushed far enough forward..or something. There's a noticeable GAP when the ball shoots out. The rubber sits behind the metal bracket at rest... Something is way off.
Neither my Space Shuttle nor my High Speed look like this. Shuttle seems to have the rod positioned further back (but it's a much less aggressive launch, so maybe it's less noticeable?) while high speed is further forward.
Taxi at rest
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Taxi with me pushing forward against the spring
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Quoted from Jmckune:Is the switch holding it up? Mine rest all the way back against the plate
I mean, I don't think so... I've tried manually moving the ball back also it iirc when I do that it's either 1 or ZERO rotations, for whatever reason. With this gap as is I usually get 10, 25, or 50K.
Doesn't seem to be hung up on the switch, that's just where it settles. No idea why.
If I push the ball down closer to the rod, I get this
Comparing taxi, shuttle, and high speed. Shuttle sure sounds and feels the smoothest. High speed makes a bit more noise but still feels fluid, and the ball sits against the shooter rubber.
IMG_20200903_202009 (resized).jpgIMG_20200903_202021 (resized).jpgIMG_20200903_202442 (resized).jpgQuoted from Jmckune:Do you by chance have a new barrel spring on it? I’m pretty sure they are a bit stiffer, larger than originals which could contribute the the plungers resting position.
Yes. I replaced all of the parts except the washers.
Quoted from Jmckune:If you still have the original barrel spring you might try putting it back on to see if it helps with the plunger position or see if you can sacrifice one from a different game. I know Taxi is one you want all the “oomf” you can get and the new ones are bigger and stiffer taking away some oomf
The ball definitely seems to sit closer to the rod with that old spring back in, but the results aren't a whole lot better than what I got when I pushed the ball closer to the plunger with the new spring. 10k seems to be about the max now.
Quoted from ChrisPINk25:Big daddy enterprises is making relay boards. Not sure if they are for sale yet but I saw them in a post on Facebook
Was just about to throw that out there! He's making ALL KINDS of great stuff these days.
Quoted from Jmckune:Is the rod dead center or is it hitting a little high? I had to put a quarter behind my shooter plate to get it to work so good by lowering the tip a little more.
I mean, I thought it was centered but maybe not? I keep hearing people say they placed things there, but I'm not understanding. Mind taking a pic when you can?
I've still got work to do on the whole assembly too. Switching out the old crummy barrel spring for a shiny new one made it crap again. Seems to work well if I pull the ball closer before I let go. I think I'll mess with the switch and see if that's making it pull forward some.
Still weird I have to prop up the bottom of the shooter rod housing like that but whatever.
Quoted from Jmckune:That’s a pretty good improvement eh? Again don’t know why it works but it does improve performance significantly!
It's still very hit or miss. A million rotations or 2. Haha. What a frustrating thing.
1 month later
Ah yes, more shooter woes. Good to see I'm (still? forever? whatever) not alone on that one. I had mine working great for a bit..now it sucks again. Makes me want to a) beat it with a hammer or b) sell it..pretty much every time I play it.
Someday I'll get that damn thing dialed in -- for good (AKA for a bit longer than 1-2 games) -- and I won't feel this way. For now, it's pretty damn maddening.
1 week later
Random, how raised are your back legs? I had mine maybe 3/4" up, not something I would see as terribly aggressive. I was getting so frustrated with how hard it was to do ANYTHING on my game. It was just a cruel center draining B.
I lowered the back legs all the way down on to the nut and its a zillion times better now but still seems to plenty fast. My phone, which I'm sure isn't entirely accurate, seems to indicate 6 degrees. Can that be right, with the legs all the way down?
Quoted from grantopia:Taxi in general these days seems to be 2500ish for a solid condition game.
Seems about right. I don't think I'd even think about letting mine go for under 3 in the current market and it doesn't appear that I'm alone. For whatever reason it seems like taxi has gotten more of a boost than a lot of games lately.
Quoted from grantopia:Same here. I'm not sure I think they are "worth" 3k but it's one of my favorite games and they seem to be moving pretty fast at 2500. They have hardtops available for them so that may contribute to the recent uptick? Maybe people wanting them for winter/quarantine projects since you can make them look great with a hardtop and don't need to drop a 1k playfield into it.
Yeah, I'm not sure i buy the 'worth $3000' bit either but the market is what the market is...I guess.
I'm enjoying mine a LOT more now that it's not a nightmarish drain monster. The skillshot continues to fight me but I at least have it to where I can typically hit 50-75 with the occasional 100. I'd say it's now easier to play and enjoy the shots without being any sort of guarantee. I still need to buy a better digital level so I can see what the pitch truly is.
I wish I could pull my mylar and restore my playfield (it's nice but it has the typical discoloration where it transitions away) and repaint the front of my cab. My paint is GORGEOUS aside from the front. Doh!
1 month later
Finally got a trough light on this thing, in addition to the spotlights. I'm using a 5smd super brite on the left and an opmax on the right. Thinking I like the opmax better so I'll probably swap one in on the left.
The green pops go back to faceted red/green/yellow caps and color matched evo britecaps tomorrow. Pretty excited for that tbh.
Still trying to get the courage to pull the ratty mylar. It's reeeeally gotta go.
20201204_084530 (resized).jpg20201204_084419 (resized).jpgHahaha nice mix. No, that's not factory. As you might have guessed. Lol
By my understanding, Wms pretty much did pops the same way forever. Someone can correct me if I'm mistaken but this is how my high speed went together. They're are three screws through the playfield on one side, in almost a triangular shape, that the switch stack and coil secure to from the bottom. On the top you have the base, the skirt, and the body. The base pops in the center hole and the body screws to it. The ring and rod go through the other two holes and secure to the parts on the bottom. Its pretty stable when it's all put together. The bally system seems kinda goofy to me by comparison!
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Quoted from gutz:The lower right screw looks like factory, it should be an oval head screw.
Good point, that one is right (inside the body, securing to the base.. right?), although it does look reeeeeally worn. The two wood screws are wrong but technically the pins for the coil bracket are wood screws.....ish. I'm not really sure what the correct replacement P/N would be though.
Quoted from zacaj:I don't know... I've seen williams pops strip the wood for the screws holding the body, or the fin screws holding the base, multiple times. Much easier to fix on a bally. Never seen it happen on a gottlieb with their bottom metal mounting plate either.
Fair point. After working with almost nothing but williams it seems weird but I can certainly see the flaws.
Unrelated side note, I forgot to order the damn evos so I'm slumming it with standard 2SMDs along with the new faceted lenses. Just gonna have to live with it for a bit. I need to do something to cover the bottom of the spinout bulbs..with the LEDs they reflect below and that's..unfortunate.
20201205_005804(0) (resized).jpghttps://www.pinballlife.com/britecaps-evo-pop-bumper-lighting.html
I love them. I put them on my High Speed, my Getaway, the Black Knight 2000 I had, T2, World Cup Soccer, and I ordered a set for Pinbot and Space Shuttle.
I like that they add some light to what is otherwise usually pretty dark in the pop area. Combined with frosted/clear bodies and clear skirts, they look amazing!
Basically, any game with translucent pop covers. I haven't experimented with solid pops (like the originals from high speed) but I don't think they'd look that great. They just aren't made to work as well in that application.
My OOOOOOONLY real wish, well actually two of them: independent brightness controls for top/bottom and only one shade of white (looks like cool white to me) on the bottom. Imo it kind of clashes with otherwise warm or sunlight white GI. For example:
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Quoted from Kingpin22:Where is the Santa kick out suppose to kick out the ball to? Mine is inconsistent and will mostly put it to right flipper but 1/8 times right down the middle. Is it suppose to kick it out to top left of Marilyn drop targets?
Mine kicks it out in the upper part of the playfield, almost always (maybe even always) on that rubber behind the center drops. It usually re-engages the pops from there.
Quoted from Bellagio:If anyone is looking for a Taxi cabinet I’m going to be posting this on Craigslist:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/looking-for-cabinet-headbackbox-thread-buy-sell-trade#post-5997061
Your topper is way better than mine ;/
Quoted from Bellagio:Yeah it’s in good shape for it’s age. I have a new one on the way for my restoration but this one could probably be spray painted white, get a new decal and look pretty nice.
I busted a couple of the mounting holes on mine when it hit the beam in my basement (didn't realize it was too tall to move past when I started pulling the machine forward on the table cart). I'm going to have to just bite the bullet and spend the $100 for a new one at some point.
Quoted from Bellagio:I feel you, the $100 for a damn piece of plastic was hard to swallow
I figure I'll do it when I'm willing to try touching up/repainting the front of the cab. The rest of my cab is CHERRY but the front...eh. I need to make the front look nice, replace the topper, pull mylar (for whatever reason this makes me super nervous), try to clean up discoloration--assuming that's even possible--and then touch up/clear. Probably jet black powdercoat if I'm going that far, too, I guess. Right now I'm just playing it, but someday I'd like to finish it 'right'.
20201122_140759 (resized).jpgIMG_20200706_134630 (resized).jpgI definitely have no qualms against hardtops (I did one on my High Speed, I bought a Space Shuttle with one, I am having one installed on my Eight Ball Deluxe currently, and I'll probably do one on my Pinbot if I end up keeping it long term) but I dunno, I feel like unless I can't get out the discoloration, hardtopping this playfield would be kind of.....wrong. It's nowhere near bad enough to warrant doing that to it. Again, just my opinion! I think my cab is special *because* it's a survivor that's still (on most aspects--there are a few flaws, of course) in pretty damn nice shape.
I could be completely wrong about buffing out the playfield. I certainly don't know a ton about the restoration process as I'm usually more of a repairer than a restorer.
CPR seems to make some really beautiful playfields but from what I gather a lot of the backglasses are just.... not great. I bought my eight ball deluxe glass from shay because it was the only place that had the colors right.
Quoted from Bellagio:In some cases like a scratched or peeling backglass it’s probably a big improvement. In my case I’m basically trading the moisture issue for washed out colors. I guess it’s better, but kind of a toss up.
Oh for sure, i agree. With my ebd i was lucky to get a great deal with plastics but I really didn't like the coloring of the CPR glass.
I thought my meteor CPR glass looked fantastic though. Ymmv lol
2 weeks later
Quoted from killerrobots:A hardtop is definitely easier. However I had to learn to do it on my Dr. Dude because no one makes a new playfield or hardtop.
You did a great job, truly. Don't discount your work, that definitely took skill to do.
I want to have my taxi touched up at some point (and factory mylar pulled) but for right now I'm just going to play it as is. I have the artistic ability of a turnip.
Yeah, that's a big problem with mine as well. What's under the mylar essentially looks perfect and what isn't...looks stained. I'm not sure there's any way to remedy that besides repainting, which is unfortunate.
Quoted from killerrobots:Yeah, yours are not as bad as mine but it sucks to know that every time you play they are getting worse. That was why I redid mine. Sorry, not to plant a seed...
Lolol, maybe I'll beat it up enough to hardtop it. I doubt it, because it's overall fairly nice -- a good survivor, if you will -- but yeah.
I probably won't do much of anything with it, at least in the short run. I doubt it gets too hammered from the minimal play I put into my hands. But someday...maybe...I'd love for her to be mint again. The cab is gorgeous....except for the front. Bleh.
Absolutely replace those with correct value fuses IMMEDIATELY and consider yourself extremely lucky nothing spiked that apparently should have popped them. Doubling fuse values is very, very bad, just universally speaking.
Quoted from Redwizard000:I switched the left flipper to a 2A slow blow (I only have the one, I will need to order more.) and it didn't last a full game before it blew and the flipper stopped working. Something must be wrong with it... probably why the 4s are in there. Instead of fixing whatever the electrical problem is, he just put bigger fuses in.
I'm looking at mine right now and it's...Interesting...as well. There are several that don't match what the card inside says.
20210101_161304 (resized).jpgI pulled out some weeeeird fuses from mine. 5A, 3-2/10, 2-8/10... replaced with a set of 2.5A which according to my chart is right for F4 but overfused by .5A for F5 and F6.. so I'll need to order some 2A. No issues with gameplay with the 2.5A on F4.
https://www.pinballlife.com/1-14-slow-blow-fuses.html
Luckily I was building an order already. I'll just tack on a bunch from the list. Guess I should go through all my machines and make sure they're not screwed up, rather than trust that the last guy had a clue 
I assume you could blow out aux board components and have to repair transistors and whatnot. Not a fan of that, lol..I've actually never soldered on a PCB in any way I just shop that work out to my board repair guy.
I'm a little bit confused by the the really weird fuses mine had. 3.2A? 2.8A? What kind of random grab-bag nonsense is that?
Guess if you're an operator back in the 90s you just threw whatever you could find in...better than a bullet I guess?
Quoted from Redwizard000:And the prophecy has come to pass... I have fried the left flipper coil, lol. :p
EOS all out of whack?
Quoted from Redwizard000:IDK, the flipper was sticking a little, compared to the other one. If I actuate it by hand it does open the gap on the EOS, and I think the previous owner must have rebuilt the flippers. The metal is all shiny and new, and I can practically see my reflection on the EOS contacts. He just didn't replace the coils, for some reason. Seems kinda silly to me... to go through all the trouble to rebuild the flippers and you don't replace the coils.
I can tell just by looking at it that this is a very old coil. And I do have a too big to fail fuse on it. It has that nice burning electrical smell and the sleeve is firmly stuck in the coil body. I am guessing the last over-amp spike was one too many. Well, I knew I was playing with fire.
I am going to replace them both. I am also going to put all the correct fuses in. I should get all the parts I need next week. Then if the machine is still blowing fuses I will have to start troubleshooting whatever electrical issue it has.
Generally speaking you shouldn't have to replace coils simply due to age. More commonly you'll see them having gotten to hot at one point and the sleeve will be stuck. That or actual physical damage would be a reason to change it out. I definitely don't replace them by default when I do flipper rebuilds. Thats not to say you *can't* if you want to! Personally, I'd save any off to the side that don't have stuck sleeves. They might come in handy someday.
I'd make really certain the EOS is right. Maybe go through your symptoms a bit more and see exactly WHEN you're blowing that fuse (is it immediate on flipper press or if you hold it for a second? Etc) and you might look at buying a breaker so you don't kill a bunch of fuses while you research. Just an idea!
Quoted from Redwizard000:Yeah, I will definitely look at the EOS. ATM, this flippers coil is shot. The sleeve is stuck and I am getting 160 ohms resistance and you could smell something burning coming from it. The flipper was stuck in the up position. I will see about some breakers, I know I have seen others on here use them, sounds like a good idea for troubleshooting.
When the fuse was going it was just happening in normal play, I don't think I was doing anything unusual to the flipper, the button would just stop working.
I haven't really looked too much at the other flipper, but it has a different, newer coil. I bought two new ones and I figure I will swap them both out so they are the same coil and then I will save the working one as a spare.
Sounds like the approach I'd take. Almost willing to bet it's the EOS. My flippers sometimes 'stick' up (don't think it's coil/sleeve related but I'll probably just resleeve to be sure) but other than that, all gravy...well, besides the spinout I'm going to be fighting until I'm dead.
My spinout is super annoying but I'm hitting 75K..100K if I'm lucky. I put an MRS switch in the bowl but haven't removed the old switch yet to see if that gets me that last little oomph I need. It's close.... very frustrating. I tried shims, different rods, different sleeves, springs, etc. It's frustrating me to the point of just dealing with it at this point.
Magnetic Reed Switch. It registers the hit via magnetism when the ball rolls past, rather than with leafs or microswitches.
Welp. Just turned my backglass into a 600 million piece puzzle. Three questions:
1) How in the fresh hell do I get all this shattered garbage off the bottom of the translite, where the lift trim was? It feels......glued on. I tried using a hair dryer and that seemed to help a little, but I'm just not getting very far considering how many pieces it's in...
2) Is there a mirrored replacement available? I only saw the Marilyn version. I'm assuming there's not..and won't ever be....meh.
3) What size tempered glass do I need cut, assuming I can actually see some kind of success from #1? I'm sure I can just easily look this up if I don't get an answer..just figured I'd add it to the post.
Finally got all the remnants off. Any way to remove this adhesive? I assume there are small particles still stuck to that and I don't want to damage the new glass.
Should I lay down a new piece of double sided tape maybe?
Funny story, that seller actually has me blocked it would appear. I had to cancel an accidental purchase once and when I tried to cart the translite it wouldn't let me. Oh well lmao
Quoted from Redwizard000:Very pleased to announce that my machine is working again. Coil replaced, also put new titan rubber on everything and I replaced all the fuses with the proper ones.
Excellent! My 96 million new fuses came from PBL today so I'll be reviewing mine also. Ordered the new glass from a local glass shop so we'll see how badly that goes... for now I'm playing with no art in the back box... the glare!
Quoted from Mk1Mod0:I'm also waiting for a new piece of glass being done locally. For now the translite sits in there fine with a small piece of tape on either side to hold the middle back. Works great.
Yeah I was thinking about doing the same in the interim. No idea how quickly these guys work. Didn't ask a price, either, so here's hoping its not a fortune. It shouldn't be..
Quoted from Mk1Mod0:They're charging me like 80 and change for the backglass and a 3" by 5" piece of real mirror. Should be in on the 19th. There is no where here that can do tempered glass. It gets done in San Antonio and when they have enough orders they make it and bring it down.
Wow! No one there does tempered glass? Wonder if the place i called is doing the same thing. I just assumed they'd do it in house.
Quoted from Mk1Mod0:Takes a special oven.
Makes sense, just didn't figure it was that big of a deal. Hopefully it doesn't take too terribly long, my tape isn't holding worth a damn.
3 months later
Quoted from ClarkGriswold:Agreed, I purchased a players condition Taxi a few years back on a whim, as I never got a chance to play it back in the day. It still hasn't left my very small collection. It's got some real staying power for a pin built in 1988. IMHO Taxi is a Top 5 Williams Sys 11 pin.
Taxi is a phenomenal game. It and High Speed are definitely my favorite Sys11 games I've played (although I haven't played Banzai Run or some of the more elusive titles). I teetered with selling my Taxi (as well as my High Speed, tbh) to chase bigger fish (Tron, Metallica, and as it ended up, a Black Knight Sword of Rage) and had offers on both, including up to $3000 for Taxi... and I couldn't do it. Thankfully I had other sacrificial lambs I could use to make my goals possible: T2, Pinbot, Cactus Jack's (I do really miss this one, and hope to find a primo condition one someday), Getaway (didn't make the cut when stacked up to High Speed..I just like High Speed better for some reason), F-14 (loved this one but man it's tough, and my cab was..not great), Meteor (DEFINITELY miss this one, and I'll buy this one back someday), Space Shuttle, and Alien Poker. Clearly, I sold some pretty decent games along the way to my big three, but Taxi and High Speed were just two I couldn't stomach letting go of.
My Taxi has a GREAT cab...except for the front. Unfortunately, it sounds like that's going to be almost impossible to match, so I haven't really decided how I want to handle it. It's a future project anyway because my Eight Ball Deluxe cab is rough and I already have the stencil kit to redo it. My Taxi playfield is pretty typical of mylar system 11 games, IMO: beautiful under the mylar, stained/off-colored outside of it. Not terribly worn in the pop area which is nice. I'd love to pull my mylar and go through the process of fixing/clearing it, but at this point I'm not even brave enough to pull the mylar. Someday, though..
Quoted from ClarkGriswold:Sounds similar to the situation I'm in. I want a newer Stern or JJ, but I have to get rid of something to do it. I won't get rid of my Comet (even though most don't rate it very highly) It was the game that got me into pinball and I have a 10/10 cab and BG. The PF is okay, but I will do a swap if I can ever come across a NOS PF for it. The comet is staying put forever (this is the 4th one I've owned and in the best condition, by a mile)
I fell in love with Taxi pretty quickly and don't see it going anywhere unless I find one in better condition to replace it with. That leaves only my Bride of Pinbot, which was another favorite of mine as a kid and my Tommy as the options to sell. Neither one I really want to part with either. I suppose I will end up moving on from the BOP as that one is in kinda rough shape in areas (although it plays great).
Really, I just need more room so I don't have to sell any of them... oh, and more money - lol
Hahahahahaha that's my situation now. I'm basically out of space (there's MAAAAAAAAAAAYBE room for one more, but it's not ideal) or I need to start getting creative with where they get put. But I'm liking the collection: High Speed (hardtop), Eight Ball Deluxe (hardtop), Taxi, World Cup Soccer, Tron, Black Knight Sword of Rage Premium, and Metallica Premium. I'm a bit heavy on similar Borg titles maybe but I feel that's a solid representation across eras and I'm a huge fan of Tron/daft punk and Metallica. Just need a classic Stern, like meteor I sold, back 
I really wanted to buy the mirrored World Cup Soccer glass but I've heard it's.....Meh. So I haven't forked over the cash. But I frequently consider it.
Quoted from Bellagio:I like mine too, I think overall CPR did a pretty good job with it. I like the mirroring a lot, but I do wish the colors were a little more vibrant.
Here's a question for everyone- did Williams ever make a real backglass for Taxi, or was it only a translite? I thought my original was an actual backglass but it turned out to be a translite.
Only a translite I believe and cpr only makes the marilyn mirrored glass so I guess what I have is what I'm gonna have. Oh well.
Got my powder parts back today. Now I just need to send him some Taxi rails so I can finish it off. I can't remember if I threw sys11 legs on my high speed or not.. Will have to get the legs that are on my taxi redone if so. I'm getting quite the pile of WPC legs at this point, considering I only own one now and it has brass legs...sheesh.
PXL_20210424_004150488 (resized).jpgPXL_20210424_005554455 (resized).jpg 1 week later
Is there a specific tilt Bob I should have in this thing? Seems no matter how I adjust it, it's sensitive A F. As in, two warnings and a tilt--ALWAYS--if I actually give it a spirited nudge.
Side note, at 3am this morning when I couldn't sleep I finally installed the black powdercoated parts I had done.. Still need to have rails done as well as the shooter housing probably.. And then splatter black powder for the door at some point, but I figure I'll wait on doors until I'm ready to send high speed, taxi, and world cup soccer to be done in one batch.
All the other parts needed (other than side rails) for going candy red on high speed besides rails pulled off to the side to make their way to my powder guy..soonish.
I kind of want to pull this lockbar receiver out at some point to freshen it up.. What's the best method? I don't want to lose the stickers but I figure I can just redo those after it's all cleaned up.
PXL_20210501_084034186 (resized).jpgPXL_20210501_084138461.PORTRAIT (resized).jpgPXL_20210501_084339393 (resized).jpgPXL_20210501_085319135 (resized).jpgQuoted from pinballinreno:I think the radcals are too glossy for this game.
I can certainly get a set ehen i get the playfield from mirco.
What i tnink i want is a set of screened, or digitally screened look alike decals on next gen material.
I really like the raised feel of the ink layers.
I know nothing about radcals or how glossy they are but I feel like my original paint has quite a bit of gloss to it. At some point I'm going to have to try repainting the front to match... And that won't be fun.
Quoted from pinballinreno:My game is all original and the tilt stays moving for 3 mins after a nudge.
Its also very sensitive.
Good to know, thanks. Might just be a quirk I learn to adapt to with this game. 
Quoted from pinballinreno:I always just replace the reciever.
I would but this looks almost...brass? Do they even sell a direct replacement for it, it are my eyes just deceiving me? Seems it's in decent enough condition I should be able to save it, I'd think?
PXL_20210501_194333181 (resized).jpgPXL_20210501_194313631 (resized).jpgIMG_20200709_172339 (resized).jpgIMG_20200709_172413 (resized).jpgIMG_20200709_172425 (resized).jpgIMG_20200709_172438 (resized).jpgIMG_20200709_172450 (resized).jpg
Here are some better pics in a better lit room. This is by far the glossiest cab I've ever owned on something of this vintage. Most of the others I've bought along the way have had various....issues.. with the cabs.
Quoted from pinballinreno:Looks great!
All except the front 
2 weeks later
Quoted from freddy:Lola playfield used wall hanger or restore !
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/114928#
So, I fully expect mine to be off-color like that (maybe not as bad, but still) when I strip it down but just curious.. How does one deal with something like that?
Quoted from Steve_in_Escalon:I believe the color difference is from the Mylar. You need to determine if the risk of Mylar removal is worth having uniform colors across the playfield.
Right, it's definitely from the mylar. Just didn't know how people would actually..... Fix that
Quoted from killerrobots:I restored my Taxi and had pretty severe color difference under the mylar . I fixed it by repainting it and then clear-coating but that is not for everyone but I don't think there is any other way.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
I was worried that's what would be the answer, but I'm not surprised.
That looks great!
Quoted from ClarkGriswold:They are actually good. I bought a blue one on ebay (and purchased a red one separately) and installed it and I'm happy with it and the quality. I still have the brand new red one (still in plastic wrap) and would be willing to sell it if someone out there wants it, just DM me.
My original red is okayish but I've considered trying the blue. Looks spiffy.
Quoted from ClarkGriswold:Yeah, I like the way it looks.
[quoted image]
That does look good! I might just have to snag one of these.
1 month later
Quoted from Evets:And their new Meteors PFs are much better than the original silk screened Meteor PF I bought from them (missing an entire set of score values!), and Mircos Taxi PFs are superior to the CPR PF I picked up (also in the silk screened first run). My timing with CPR products has not been good. Still, the products are much better than what I had to begin with. Oh yes, the Seawitch and Taxi plastics I have have fragile backsides, relative to the originals and the PPS version of the Taxi plastics. That said, I am honestly happy the Taxi glass and Meteor PFs were improved for you and others with the switch to digital. I can say that my EBD glass from CPR is excellent!
I've got my friend's CPR gold meteor with all the ugliness that I need to drop off for scores and clear. Still pissed about that one. I think it's ridiculous that cpr essentially said "welp, sorry." to those who ordered and didn't even try to make their playfield situations any better. With the amount of money he spent on this thing he shouldn't have to go fix it (and in some ways, he can't. But the scores can be, at least). JMO.
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