I picked up a freebie Williams Aces & Kings several weeks ago. The previous owner had no idea how to turn it on other than pressing the start button, and asked me "what's that switch?" when I flipped the machine onto its back. Cabinet is okay, coindoor cleaned up well, backglass has just the beginnings of flaking, plastics are good, playfield has its share of wear.

Had no idea what to do with it, was thinking of parting it out but I hate to see any potentially savable/playable pins chopped up, so I've been taking parts off piece by piece and cleaning and de-rusting them while I decide. When I turn it on for the first time after sitting a while, it lights up and hums, and that's it. If I turn it off an on again, it starts resetting everything but never gets there; it'll just keep trying and trying and trying to reset. No idea what could possible be the problem as I have no experience with EM's at all.

Yes, I hope to fix it but I might as well try to learn Chinese while I'm at it. If anyone can help other than pointing me to the online guides I already know about, I'd be extremely grateful. Also, now that I'm pulling mechs to clean them up, I'm noticing detached wires that I've no idea where they might go, so if anyone else here has an Aces & Kings, *please* pm me if you wouldn't mind looking at some photos to identify where these wires/terminals should go.

For now, more metal polish and baths in Evaporust.

This can't be right, can it? This is the ball gate assembly from a '70 Williams Aces and Kings. Looks like the half with the gate has been twisted about 15 degrees from the part that mounts to the arch, but there's no sign of tool marks or scratches. Gate half is also pointing up a little. Looks like it came like this from the factory, and a couple of photos I've found of same-era machines look like a similar bend, though they are very poor photos. Even the IPDB "upper playfield" photo looks like a bent gate bracket. Is this correct?

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Thanks, I'll do that once I have all the cleaned-up mechs reinstalled and everything back together. I noticed with the pf up that I'm getting some blue sparking from the switch board (is that what you call those things?) inside the cabinet when it attempts to reset, obviously that's something to tackle as well.

Just picked up a beautiful Gottlieb Bronco yesterday, spent a couple years in Texas then forty years in the same basement up here. Tossed the legs right into Evaporust to get rid of a little surface rust, will post some photos when it's back together. Anyone got a PDF file of the manual and/or parts catalog they could share?

WOW. That looks stunning.

I'm working on a very original and very clean '77 Gottlieb Bronco and this is my first EM and my first Gottlieb, so I don't quite know what to expect. So far, pretty much the same as working on an SS as far as cleaning, polishing, etc. goes, but here comes my first question. I've taken off the kick-out hole mechs for cleaning and both sets of arms have a very light film of some sort of clear grease on them, as well as the plunger, and the stud that the plunger link attaches to the arm. No film on either the bracket holding the arms or the coil bracket. Is this standard for a Gottlieb EM? I was thinking perhaps it's to deter corrosion, but I haven't found it on any other mechs yet.

Game was routed for a couple years then home used since around '79, so whatever this film is has likely been on there for forty years.

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Another question for you Gottlieb EM guys: what is this mech that's hanging under my playfield? Right now, the bottom half with the switches and coils is hanging on pivots from the top half. I see that there are wingnuts (circled in red) on a threaded shaft, that looks like they're supposed to clamp onto the brackets (circled in green). Then there's also a little adjustable arm (circled in yellow) that I can't figure out what its purpose is. The mech was swinging freely when I brought the game home, yet it played fine when tested at the previous owners. Is this in its correct position, or should it be clamped into those brackets with the wingnuts? What's the purpose of that arm? What's the purpose of having it hang like this?

I'm finding all this pre-solid state stuff fascinating, but much in the same way as a tourist in a foreign country who doesn't speak the language.

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I only played a couple of games at the owner's house to test it, but god only knows how many months or years they played it like that. I see now that I have it secured that each coil is labeled. I didn't even notice the wingnuts until a week ago and I've had it since January.

What's the story with those plastic "protectors" under the pops on a Gottlieb? Are they supposed to adhere to the playfield like mylar, or do they just float? Are they actually good for anything?

On the subject of lubing: everything I've ever read about pinball and lubrication states that metal-to-plastic/nylon requires no lubrication. I'm rebuilding my Gottlieb flipper mechs with the two triangular bushings on each side and the parts catalog states "Flipper shaft and bushing: Nylon bushing: Fine Oil". Which is correct? And if this does get lubed, is a thin film of teflon Super Lube gel an acceptable substitute?

Got my Bronco's apron and plunger gauge cleaned & shined up tonight with a gentle application of Novus 1 & 2, and I couldn't be happier. All the sore spots I was worried about cleaned right off, and a few spots that I thought were gouges in the white paint weren't and polished right out. Aside from a couple of scratches that can't be seen unless looked for and a couple of dust spots in the paint courtesy of Gottlieb, it looks brand new.

Having said that.....I had to do all this with the apron on the playfield, as I couldn't get the damn thing off. I took off the two back screws and lifted that edge over the two little brackets at the edge of the playfield, but no amount of pushing or rocking would free those four little slots in the front from the four metal tabs. It felt like the apron was held back by something. It was the two back brackets or their screws, I had a wood block under the apron to raise it over them. Is there some magic trick to removing a Gottlieb apron? I'd really love to clean and polish all the ball trough brackets under there if possible.

Finally got my Gottlieb Bronco back together and I knew my luck couldn't last forever. Game played fine when I brought it home. Today when I powered on for the first time, all that came on was the TILT light and coindoor lights. I added a ball to the trough and all the GI lights came on. I dropped a quarter in the right slot and an additional credit registered (already had a few previous credits on the reel). I dropped a quarter into the left slot and the motor began spinning and won't stop.

Game was/is extremely clean and well-kept so I'd think that all switches/reels/etc. are good to begin with, likely it's something I moved or did while cleaning it up. Just no idea where to even start as I'm an EM idiot. All score reels were already at 00000 if that matters. Should I leave this here or start a new topic?