I was wondering how this was coming along. Glad to see it is happening and some nice progress has been made. Keep up the good work.

Just work slow and steady and when you see some good results starting to happen, it will encourage you to keep plugging away at the project. Take it one thing at a time.

On rebuilding your cables, do you mean re-pinning and new connectors? If that is it, you had better get a good crimper and some connector supplies and do it yourself. Worth the effort if it means you might be able to retain your left nut.

pinball life has translite

You could probably do a WTB here and get several that will pop up from people who replaced theirs with the CPR backglass.

did you seriously pay $1000 for this to start? That should have been a $200-$300 game..and that would have been generous. Even if you got it for $300, you would have way more into it, already than just getting a working nice one for $1500-1900. Even 2k. Looks like it's coming along nice tho. Are you not going to protect and clearcoat the playfield first after doing all this work?

you don't need a new playfield. Just clear that one. You can do it yourself for minimal cost. Do the minor touchups you need and try the brush on method like in the other thread. System 11's wear badly. The lacquer chips off and crackles everywhere. Should really seal it in.

as for the guy no budging, then you shouldn't buy. That's the reason people are getting real money for garbage. Some people are just to eager. SHould have told him he's out of line and let him sit on it for a couple of months. They change their tune when they are not getting anything for stuff, and it's just getting in the way. There are many more fish in the sea.

Not in this sea of prairie Neo. It's like Mad Max up here.

drive to the states and load the car up and head back. especially over here and MI, there are reasonable deals to be had.

If our currency was at par, I'd be having a beer with you right now while scouting out deals. And I would have a truck. A big one, with a trailer.

Sadly Smokedog is right , the collectors market is growing up here , but there aren't any machines to go around . I used to bring some up the the states, but with the dollar and generally higher prices in the states , it just isn't worth it right now . Either you buy new and take the hit , or you scrape the bottoms and have fun fixing it up !

good tough work guys i ’m doing the same on my ww

Stay the course. Half the fun is putting in the effort, and you can't put a price on that. I'll concur with Neo, do the playfield touch ups and clear. It will be worth it. I'm doing the brush method on my Black Rose. Check out the thread if you get a chance.

i will post pics very soon.

yes, after you have it together your really going to wish you cleared it first. Especially with 6 pops. Do you really want to have to cut all the lamp sockets and do it again?

You know, I'd have paid 1k for that. I agree with the captain that it was priced high, but eh. Whatever. I love me some whirlwind. Definitely my favorite game of all time. It warms my heart to see you really digging in and restoring it. Not to mention, that pin prices here on the east coast of the states are all getting outrageous. I doubt anyone around here would've let it go for less, so you done good.

I'm way over budget on my game, and I'm still in the "gathering parts" stage of my restoration, but I'm never letting it go, and it's a game with a lot of sentimental value to me, so it's totally worth it.

I have to say though, you may want to reconsider and clear that playfield. System 11s have the worst topcoat of any game generation. Couple that with a million pop bumpers and spinners-a-plenty, and you've got a recipe for some paint loss.

Good luck on your restoration, though!

Doing this now on my WW, and for some reason the underside of the game's pop bumper nests are just awful compared to other games.

I scored a complete with lots of problems WW for ~$850 a couple years ago. I think $1K for an incomplete WW is high and gonna be a headache, but it is rare to find anything desirable, or even undesirable, at a decent price nowadays. Unless you get lucky, you wanna play, you gotta pay.....

are you cutting off the connector or are they missing? SHould never cut them off like that. I go one strand at a time, and make the new connector as I go along. So it's cut 1 wire..strip, crimp and insert in teh same spot in the new molex. repeat. So connectors stay in the same order, and you don't have to look in the manual (which maybe wrong).

hope those wire colors match the manual or your in a for a shitload of fawk.

I'm doing a PF swap on my Whirlwind at the same time, so Twilight1 is going to bring that mess to my place and I'll be doing the connectors. At least I'll have mine as a guide. I do hope the colours match up!

Once I'm done with my WW, I get to start on my TZ PF you did for me Neo. 2 years for the CC to cure should be good enough?

this may be a saving grace for that harness. Good thing you both have one going on at the same time.

1000 bucks for that crappy piece of shit? The seller should be very ashamed. Damn.

PROBABLY but this is a game very hard to find in America,and when you want something...I've got mine for 600 euros and i need a new display,i'm restoring the playfield of course the cabinet new plastics etc...However i'm living in France and i think we have a lot of pinball butstill this number is hard to find in good shape

all the people bad mouthing about the price. come live here for a while and see what you can find .

Very good your project seems to turn out nice!
crossed fingers for the sequel

I hope it didn't sound like I was bad mouthing the price. I live in an area sandwiched between Philly and New York, therefore we get a ton of pinball machines that go on sale around here, but also a ton of people asking wayyyyy too much money for them. It's just a general price inflation for the area. There's definitely a price hike of games just for living out in this part of NJ, and the prices are ever climbing.

Anyway though, Whirlwind is one of those games that everyone seems to like, everyone seems to want, and everyone wants to keep. I'm no fortune teller, but I think as pinball inevitably regains it's popularity back, Whirlwind will climb the ranks of most wanted games. OP, treat your game well, and cherish it. I'm glad it fell into good hands.

Just finished up the top side to my restore, and waiting on a few essential parts to finish the bottom (really, just flipper coils and a spring for the diverter).

Once I get the play field back in and tweaked up, I'll be spending some time doing Twilight1's harness (and he'll be busy doing my TZ cabinet). Fair exchange!

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very nice indeed i look forward to be at that point on my ww

Nice job!