I mounted mine in the same location as it was originally...in the eos Tab

I upgraded the flippers in my firepower per the Vid guide. If I remember correctly I reused the old leaf switch on my new flipper mechs in order to get the lane switching to work right. Or at least that was the quickest fix in the moment with the parts I had. Works great.

Good idea. If it's not broke, don't fix it. I almost always live by this when working on pins. I've made things worse messing with my old EMs so I follow that line of thinking now.
It also doesn't need as much current going through it like a flipper switch.

Little write-up for those with the right flipper too weak to hit the top right scoop...

After replacing all connectors, shotgunning all boards, rebuilding the flippers with new coils, trying all possible EOS adjustments, reducing the slope to the point it felt really wrong... I still couldn't hit the top right scoop.

I kinda gave up for months just hoping for luck at plunge or lane guide rebound.

A few weeks ago I finished rebuilding my Blackout, only to notice how strong the flippers were. I realized I used the PinballLife complete flippers kit for Williams system 6, and even if they are not the fliptronics style, they are noticeably stronger than those I had in my Firepower (fliptronics style).

So I went ahead and ordered another set of PinballLife complete flippers kit for Williams system 6, mounted them, adjusted EOS, and boom... Instant hit of the top right scoop! I then leveled the rear legs to go back to a normal slope and it hits again, clean and strong.

I am not sure why they are so much powerful? I had the exact same coils (bought individually at Marco a year ago). This older design is supposed to be less efficient than the fliptronics, as it's got the conical spring that chews the link and drags more, but it is night and day.

Anyway, this is the one thing that did the trick for me. It's pricey but really, being in control now is a great feeling.

Flipper rebuild kit or the whole assembly? Link it if you can please.

This what I got from PinballLife: "Full Flipper Assembly For Williams Machines From 02/1980 To 08/1983
C-8230-L_C-8230-R
Base Plate: Right (and I also got the left)
Coil: SFL-19-400/30-75

Link as of today: https://www.pinballlife.com/full-flipper-assembly-for-williams-machines-from-021980-to-081983.html

As much as I like this shop, I am not affiliated to them ok? Just sharing what worked for me and again the EOS adjustment was perfect on the previous Fliptronics-style flippers I had in the machine with brand new SFL-19-400/30-75 coils I got from the other shop. Not sure why the difference, especially going back to the older style with the conical spring? I'd be curious to see if this works for you too Charles_Kline ? Let us know.

You need to make sure your plunger is hitting the coil stop. I ordered a kit off eBay and they were to short, maybe because they used the wrong link. I changed it to a 1/16 longer Stern plunger (I think) and they work great now.

I wouldn't buy any system 6 flipper rebuild kits on ebay. I had to go back and forth with the seller to prove they were wrong. They may have changed it by now

Good info, thanks for sharing. Did you happen to notice a difference in flipper travel between the 2 setups? Was it possible the stock flipper arrangement had more or less travel than the WPC setup? You could tell by the position of the bats when energized (assuming you set both to the same resting position).

It could also be that the WPC era return springs are stronger, causing more resistance to the coil as it activates.

Yes, both were hitting the coil stops. And coils were tight, not moving. EOS gap was 1/8" when fully plunged, and longer leaf bent to open only at the very end of the strike.

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no, I can't tell the difference. They are aligned with the return guides just like in my previous setup.

Is there a coil sleeve in that coil? It's not extending past the coil bracket along the plunger.

That sounds good, what about in the upright position.

I’m in the club as of 2day! I’ll wax the PF and adjust the pitch after work 2mrw..

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hwyhed Gratz on the pick up. Playfield looks in great shape.

Thanks teamhex. I was lucky to find a clean 1! Probably gonna change some of the leds in the back glass, and just play it

That is a great looking playfield. Was it replaced at some point or was the game hardly ever played?

congrats on the pickup!

NW7 board finally on the way.

My Firepower is missing the gate at the top of the shooter lane. Does anyone have a spare one lying around they'd part with?

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If you can't find one they aren't too hard to make. One length of music wire at the hobby shop will let you make a bunch of them. Even if you make a few mistakes there is plenty of material left to make more.

The parts list show it as 12A-6460 and it's in stock at Marco https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/12-6460

Playfield Parts List - rubber ring info.pdf

So, time for me to gracefully leave the Gottlieb Sys1 club, now that we've traded up from Solar Ride to Firepower.

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I have my Firepower running in my NW7 multipin right now. It's running stereo with a sub. I'm amazed at how much low end information is in the original sound package. I'm planning to enhance it as well.

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Okay wait what head is this?

Hooking a sub up to this game is the greatest thing, especially when you hit the 1-6 targets. So boomy!

It looks like a Firepower II head on an original Firepower. What to do about the backglass since the original won’t fit?

Except his has 6 digit scoring for each player...Fp2 Has 7 digits.

Ha. I thought this picture might be confusing. So, it's a Flash cabinet and head. I had to do a bunch of modifications to make the Firepower 2 speaker panel and insert panel work in the Flash. I lowered the bottom studs so I could mount the six digit displays where the seven digit displays were. I am running system 3-6 games in the cabinet. Thats why I'm not using the seven digit displays. I had to run a satellite display for the credit/ball. The display driver would not fit on the front of the insert panel with everything else. The reason I'm using the FP2 speaker panel is so I could have a stereo pair of 6X9s in the speaker panel. Taylor at Reese Rails reproduced the speaker panel with cut outs for the 6x9s instead of the single round speaker. Why stereo when the output is mono? You can order a stereo version of the NW7 3 in 1 board. Yes, the original sounds are mono. However, the NW7 allows you to swap out sounds like a Pinsound board. I am going to add some panning effects and add some new sounds to the original sound package.

Welcome to the club.

who sellls the nice chrome firepower jet bump caps?

Metal mods sells chome decals to put on whatever pop cap you want.

Does anyone have a spare B-8238 Upper Right Ball Guide for Firepower? Or can someone scan theirs or provide a vector file so I can have it laser cut? I posted this ad a few weeks ago but no luck finding one. Thanks!!!

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/115715

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Anyone interested in my old playfield...wear around the right slingshot down to the bottom,cupped inserts, otherwise in good shape...good hardtop candidate..PM me if interested

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So I got my NW7 today. Had some switch issues. I disconnected the coin door and everything works great. Does anyone sell a system 6 coin door harness? Next up is some customization for sounds.

I *probably* do? Unfortunately if I do, it'll be in one of several boxes/containers crammed into my storage unit which I recently downgraded to a smaller size, so it's even less accessible. If you don't have any luck soon, you could throw me an occasional PM as a reminder and the next time I go to the unit I can dig through the boxes. I parted out a burned Firepower decades ago but the playfield was still decent; I kept all the hardware off it so that piece is very likely in my stash. It's been long enough that I've forgotten what all I kept, so I can't promise that I do have it.

Richard

Man that is a great resto candidate! I hope someone with the skills picks this up

Thanks Richard! Have not had anyone reach out with the part yet. I have a friend with a Firepower which is about an hour away - going to reach out to him next to disassemble his game and trace the part and attempt to reproduce it. I'll reach out to you if that effort fails. If others have the part let me know!

I built this topper for our Firepower. Thought I'd share with all the Firepower enthusiasts. If anyone would like to see a video of the lights in action here is the link.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mCKsHe2N3WXsy51Ap9t6YMxhLeAnEQWn/view?usp=drivesdk

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Look awesome!

Can't access your Google drive to see the video

That's awesome! I think I've seen that moon light. What are you using for ships/the fire power text?

I appreciate that for the future! I know I am a bit late (I have not frequented the forums here in probably a year or more). However, I rebuilt my original flippers with new bats, new bushings, new linkages, sleeves, and plungers. Even with original System 6 solenoids, I always am able to rip the ball up the left lane and hit the ball lock if hit right. The intermediate parts, when new, go a long way to making these things strong. I also run a fair amount of pitch to the table.

So, if you want to just rebuild with new parts instead of replacing everything, it is possible.

The planet light came from Amazon, I ripped the lights out of it and used my own lights connected to the machine. For the planes, they started out as F117 Stealth Fighter and I customized them. For the FIRE and POWER stand up lights I used pieces of sanded acrylic sheet and sanded, painted and lit them from underneath with LED strips attached to the fire and power lights on the machine.

The planet light came from Amazon, I ripped the lights out of it and used my own lights connected to the machine. For the planes, they started out as F117 Stealth Fighter and I customized them. For the FIRE and POWER stand up lights I used pieces of sanded acrylic sheet and sanded, painted and lit them from underneath with LED strips attached to the fire and power lights on the machine.

Here's a link to my google drive folder is you want to see some of the pictures of the development of the topper. https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1qe2R5a4iDAXkdcDVfUhcnuRsGNJWqYb6

Anyone have an extra sound and speech board they would be willing to part with?

Thanks
Joe

Do you mind project boards or do you want one that's 100% working? I have an original sound and speech board, but some of the speech words are missing from it. Sound works great though.

PM Sent projects are fine with me

Looking to replace a couple flaky switches. 2 are in the upper wire form roll overs that spell fire and a left in lane roll over.

Are those switches the same and where do you recommend getting them? The wire rollover is fine. It's the the switches underneath I want to change out.

Before you change them out have you tried cleaning them again and the gap? While you never want to sand those I have some lapping paper with an insanely high grit # that I've used as a last resort before replacing a switch.

Also, if you are running the original driver board does it have the mod with the set of 8 zero ohm resistor/jumpers installed for the switch matrix? That helped on my Firepower.

Thanks for the response.
It's a rotten dog board and have adjusted them several times. They work a couple of times after adjustment and then stop again. Tired of adjusting them only to work for one game and back to not activating again. It's the right two only. The other 3 work perfectly.

So, got replacement plastics in. 3D printed some standoffs for the upper right lock plastic so I didn't have to try to transfer the riveted standoffs from the old one. It looks much more complete now that the upper left arch doesn't have a HUGE missing piece, and much better with two other cracked and repaired plastics now replaced with intact ones, and I 3D printed PETG washers for the corners to help protect them. Went ahead, replaced the white rubbers with Titans (mix of clear with red for single post rubbers), and cleaned and waxed while we had the plastics off. I went ahead and dropped in the lane guide covers that came with the plastics set, too.

During all that, the 1 target lost the sticker (just popped off as the adhesive gave up), so I vinyl cut some custom replacements in a similar font to what's used on the game.

Playfield with custom target covers

Custom target close up

I replaced all mine with cherry switches and the newer style brackets...no more issues with those switches...