Regarding Coil Stops: I know that '88 to '93 had one type, and '93 to '99 had another type. Are there any measurements out there for the length of the stop part of these coil stops? I need to know which one to get for my Blackout if I'm going to rebuild it with the new Fliptronic-style assembly.

Also, is there any drawback to getting the EOS with the reinforced back - the one I've seen referred to as the "high-voltage" style? It's cheaper and seems like a better idea, mechanically.

I want to put the new Fliptronic style springs into my Taxi, but I'm not able to find anyone with a drill press to put a hole in the capacitor bracket. Could I buy something like this for each side? Would the screw holes line up?

http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=catalog&mode=search&search_in=all&search_str=Williams%2FBally+Flipper+Base+Sub+Assembly

I don't have a punch tool, so I'd need to buy one. How exact do the measurements need to be? I'd hate for the spring to be too slack or tight because I screwed something up.

At the beginning of the post (four years ago!), Vid says that "some coils were installed backwards at the factory". By that, he seems to mean that the diode-side-against-the-coil-stop configuration is wrong. His advice is to flip the coils and sleeve 180 degrees, and to cut off the little plastic nipple that's on the diode side if it's causing problems.

But that nipple goes right into the little groove on the coil stop. And all the manuals I've seen show that to be the correct configuration.

Now, I'm not doubting Vid. It makes sense that you'd want as little vibration as possible on the diode side, so you should flip the thing around. But is Vid suggesting that every pinball machine ever manufactured Did It Wrong when it came to designing and implementing how these coils were to be installed? Is that what he means by "backwards"?