New to pinside and to pinball. Rebuilt my WCS, new ramps, plastics, ball, motor, glass, cliffys, rubbers, flippers etc. Sorry I have already posted these two questions under Tech. Would really appreciate some help.
1)I have fixed the noise on my new soccer ball motor using lithium grease, seems to have done the trick. But vibrations are caused by the ball spinning. It seems to vary each time I switch it on. It's not terrible, but it is there. I may take the ball off again and check that the plate(new) is sitting on the e-clip correctly (new) and that there is no wobble in the shaft. Did anyone change how the grub screws fit to the shaft (ie is the inside of the soccer plate central to the shaft with the grub screw tightened). One thing I have noticed is the plate does not seem to be parallel to the playfield. There does seem to be slightly more of a gap to the side closer to the flippers.
2) My spinner kicks off a travel sequence even though the travel lane rollover may not be actuated. Is this normal? Cannot see the point of the rollover. I have tested both rollover switch and spinner swicth. They are both testing fine and independently of each other.

Again, sorry for posting this again. Really like the game, suck at it though. The new rubbers, ball and waxing make it way faster and random to how it used to be. Can only get 955m, pretty crap.

Hi PinballKen, I guess I gave 2-3 seperate squirts of grease lasting for about 1-2 seconds each time. It is not whisper wuiet but it is less than what it was. It sounded like a jet turbine when I first got it. People say never put lubricants in pinball, but that gear box is not a normal pinball part. And if you take the motor off, you will see there is grease in there, but it is hard, so the lithium seems to loosen it up. Gears need grease but not too much. I have found that lithium grease is the safest and easiest option.

Thanks Pacer and PinballKen for the answer on the spinner, could not remember what it was supposed to do.

I'll give you a short history from someone who has never owned a pinball before. My wife wanted one, and I had just sold my ef 400 2.8 IS and made a bit of a profit, so I said lets go and get one. The guy had fish tales, WCS94 and Star Wars for sale. I wanted fish tales, and my wife said the one that least appeals to her is a Soccer theme. We live in Australia (G'day), so soccer is ok here. Anyway, one go of WCS94 had the whole family agreeing that that was the one. This was a serviced table not a refurbished. Ready for it ...... $3700. Want to know how much I have spent on it ..... $2000 (my profit from the lens got eaten up long ago). We wanted to make it perfect, replace that faded plastic, replace the soccer ball (oh but now its unbalanced, so replace the motor, still unbalanced replace the plate).
The plastics we got from Planetary pinball (http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PP&Product_Code=PPS-31-1925-COMP&Category_Code=GS-2811). Well worth it.
You do get two header plastics by the way. Here are some tricks I learnt on the way.

Semi Tubular rivets, you can buy a anvil and just use a hammer. BUT, I used a felt coated metal coaster underneath on top of a brick (it was my wifes only memorabillia from university - oh well). If you dont have felt, it will scratch the rivet. If you dont have metal, then the head ovef the rivet may loose its shape (the metal bends and is sacrificed), the brick is important because you dont want bounce. The replacement rivets are one of the few things I am really proud of.

LEDs, Pinball Spare Parts in Melbourne, Australia, told me dont worry with the kits, just use supers for inserts and flashers and frosted for backglass and GI. I used cool white only. Getting these seperately costs about $50 compared to the $250 kits.

The cliffy around the assist, stopped the goal assists. So rather than take it all apart, I used a dremel (another toy I had to buy) to cut away the part of the cliffy closest to the goal. I also had to replace the kicker mechanism because there was give in it. I still have every 10th assist not working, BUT I think this may be because of vibrations from the soccer ball affecting how the pinball sits in the saucer.

I got one of those new backramps and they are great. You do need to countersink the screw holes though (scarey to do with the drill, I did go a bit far for one of them). The reason I had to get a new one is the diverter had chewed a hole and was lifting and smacking into the ramp lane. When we put it through the new one, we put a washer below the e-clip to stop it chewing through again. We also changed it to hold only on the solenoid (although it has on a few occasions trapped the ball on multiball, may need to change it back). So the new ramps are good, would recommend them (I angle grinded a bit off the sides from the ramp entrance so it would sit correctly).

Rebuilding the bumpers, I struggled with the ribbon wire, but used those cheap plastic wall hangers to clamp them back down rather than taking everything off and getting a staple gun (dodgy I know, but it works).

My cabinet is crap, the speaker cover has a dimple, and there is a slight hairline crack down the centre of the playfield (it is slight, the table is good otherwise). This pinball will never be worth anything resale...... but it does not matter. We love it (even though it is frustrating at times). The new soccer ball, new rubbers and waxing have changed the game sooooo much, it is brutally fast now.

I will try to put pictures up later.

If you check my entry above, I spent about $2000. But we tried to replace everything. I noticed your header plastic near stickers hideout is cracked. In my previous post I have a link where you can get a whole set of plastics for $155. If you want to attach things to the plastics correctly you may want to consider a anvil for the rivets (check previous post). Also check the back ramp near the diverter. May be hard to see without opening up. But mine and may other people have a nice big hole in the back ramp around the diverter.

The ball may be an original. If it is it has little impact on play and will not grab the pinball and fling it around. This is a game changer so would recommend purchasing a new one if it is old

Also new rubbers are essential, $25 for a kit.

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Your wire ramp still looks gold, mine was completely stripped. So that was $150. My plastics were very yellowed and I had three with cracks, my lock plastic on top was almost opaque! So plastics was essential for mine. If you only have your header plastic cracked then you could possibly live with that. If you try and buy it separately, you will pay almost the same amount as the full set ($155).

I had to replace a plastic ramp, and replaced the other side one cos they had it. My ball motor was shot, yours may be ok

As I posted previously don't buy an LED Kit, just get supers and frosted, you'll save about $200.

Also I live in Australia, so add on 50% to everything! It is much cheaper for parts and delivery in USA.

I replaced mine because the shaft was loose. All the motors will be noisy, especially the new one. I applied lithium grease from a spray can. I applied a bit, say a second or two, then let it run for a few days and repeated the process till I was happy. You won't get rid of the sound all together but you can get rid of the headache jet engine sound which I had from the new motor. This is my first and it's been a roller coaster in terms if repairing, and I know it's still not perfect. I will never get my money back, resale will be equal to or marginal to what I paid. But it is nice to have something almost new in your own home.

It was probably bad manners to put my restoration in the club forum, so I moved it:

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/wcs94-wcs-world-cup-soccer-94-restoration-by-a-novice

The only thing I am trying to do now is get rid of most of the ball vibrations (my backglass wobbles). Without the plate, the shaft is straight and the e-clip is perfect. No wobble in the rotation. With plate on, the screw up the top does not spin completely on its centre. I have two plates, so just trying to sort it out. Once I have that spinning sweet, I will add the ball and hopefully no more shakes. Or, maybe all WCS pins do it...... Appreciate any suggestions.

I like the magna save, but I always think "Doh, I should have used that" after the ball has sunk. I think it adds a bit to the game, and it's fun when it works.

All cleaning will do is make it more slippy! Once the rubber hardens I dont think there is any way to get it back. Ive read some people putting a bit elastic around it, and others using silicon, but I guess these could come off or flake off. Once a new ball is on which grips the ball it becaomes a game changer. The ball can be gripped and sent hurtling down towards the flippers you dont even see it! One time I was watching my ultra jets build up getting complacent, the next instant the ball is sittingh on my left flipper. Keeps you on your toes, and your score down! I do recommend a new ball.

Speaking of balls, I'd like to bump my earlier post about the vibrations the ball creates. Does anybody else have any suggestions on whether they notice it and whether they have successfully minimised it. As I said my backglass shakes when it is on. Just want to know whether this is normal.

Thank you Matt! Now I know I need to fix it. Mine was so noisy I could not hear the speakers with volume on 5 and it gave me a headache. The lithium grease did help, it's not whisper quiet but it is a lot less noisy than it used to be.

You also need the spring, an e-clip, some washers, and you may need the switch goalie assembly (electric cables), cable tie etc.

Have you got the manual, all the parts are listed on page 2-20 for the Goalie Unit Assembly A-17741. I found the manual a fantastic resource.

The manual can be found on:

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2811

Apologies if you already have it. That's one dirty machine. Good luck!

Ok. Fixed the vibrating machine. It was the soccer ball. Beware of heavy grippy soccer balls which may have thicker rubber on one side compared to the other. The replacement ball from Marco fixed it.

Now to fix the assist ball eject mechanism. 5% to 10% of the time the eject kicks weakly to the right, rather than straight up. I have new saucer, new eject mechanism, new solenoid and sleeve and the spring is fine. Looking at the mechanism it looks like there are two parts on the same pivot, the Ball Eject Spring Assembly (A-17907) that comes from the solenoid and the Eject Cam Assembly (A-7471-R) which travels through the saucer and has contact with the pinball. These 2 parts appear that they should move freely on the mounting bracket pivot (A-18146) but not contact each other on the pivot. I am also guessing that all the hap hazard violent movement from the solenoid be taken up by the Ball Eject Spring Assembly and NOT transferred to the Eject Cam Assembly. When I push the Ball Eject Spring Assembly all the way over to the right of the pivot it will work flawlessly for about 20+ ejects. But then it starts to become erratic again. Trying to work out how to make this mechanism work 100% of the time. I have seen similar posts on other sites, but it has not been resolved. image.jpg

Thank you JeffA and PinWillie. I shall try a bit of lube and see if a slight adjustment is required. Thanks heaps.

I put a new motor in and mine was going wrong way as well.

The reason: the new motors have the red dot marked incorrectly.

Solution: resolder the wires with the black wire going to the red dot connector.

BTW: Beware getting soccer balls from Australian suppliers. Mine cost me $145, was heavy and unbalanced made my machine shake. I bought new motor and plate to try and resolve it. It was the ball. I wasted $200. The one from Marco for $49 (decals aren't as nice) works great!

I did mine recently. Once I removed the bolts underneath the pf, I think I needed to give them a small tap, and maybe use some pliers to pull out. You may need to detach the goalie assembly (just unscrew, not disconnect wiring) to get the cliffy in. Just be careful that the cable tie at the back of the goalie does not push down, or it will stop the goalie moving the full amount side to side.