The rails are originally set with Phillips screws. I have to congratulate Petacos for that clever way of assembling their rails. There is no risk of damaging the rails during the dis-assembly and no risk of scratching them during the re-assembly. The rails are in very good condition and forty years later, the stainless steel is perfect.
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The rails are treated with Collinite 850 which is a cleaner, wax and sealant for metals. The bonus is that your fingers will leave practically no trace. I use Collinite products line for my cars (845) and I like their products. This is commercial/industrial quality.
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Of course, the screws are brand new. No need to re-use the old stuff, which was not chrome plated......

Yves

Final little trick: On all my pinball machines, I secure a spare key under the cabinet.
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Yves

The playfield is also being re-assembled, after cleaning up carefully all the parts and replacing all the bulbs with fresh new ones. Fresh rubber, fresh bulbs....it is all very sensual....
I am letting you enjoy the pictures:
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Yves

I hope it will. Collinite 845 cuts a lot of finger prints on my black car, so I am placing a lot of hopes in the 850 for metal.

Yves

Tonight, mostly verification that all GI bulbs are working as expected and building of the vessel for the Evapo-Rust.
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$30 of PVC and glue..... What a rip off at Home depot. Building materials have become so expensive in the last 10 years, it is ridiculous. I hope American workers are learning to re-use and recuperate a lot of materials, now. The years of waste and no-concerns about the cost of living are well behind us.
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Hopefully, this tube will stay up right. Otherwise, I will have to glue it on a plate/anchor.

The playfield is now fully assembled with the exceptions of the top and bottom which have parts that require a good soaking into the Evapo-Rust.

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Those #44 are providing plenty of light.
Yves

Today, re-insertion of the board into the cabinet.
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For the apron, I pushed the insanity to print a series of cards in Spanish: Do you think I need some medication?
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The cabinet is ready. I will put back the coin door, once all the rusted parts are clean again.
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That is all for today.
Yves

Finishing the playfield. Installation of the pop bumpers with all new parts from Marco Specialties and LED circuits for a more homogeneous glow of the Pop Bumpers.
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Looking a lot crispier and cleaner than the old bumpers from 40 years ago.

The ejection mechanism just spent the night in Evapo-Rust and received a fresh coat of Collinite 850 as a waxing.
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The playfield terminated and ready to play another 50,000 games.....
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Close-up on the Spanish instructions card:
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I hope you enjoy.
Yves

Time for the first trials:
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A push on the credit button and all reels reset correctly, lights came up, first ball in play (bottom left) is on and first Player (bottom right) is also on. Ball is fed to the shooting lane. First player reel is lighted. It is starting to look good....

Slight disappointment with the LEDs in the pop bumpers: one is greenish than the others. It is a common problem with LEDs, but it is irritating. I may have to purchase a few and find two that match closely.

Yves

I just completed the assembly of the coin door. I always dread this stage as I do not take enough pictures and always go too fast when taking it apart. The order of assembly is most of the times tricky and needs to be carefully studied. This time, I had a few parts left.... It seems to work fine, though....
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I used my bottle of Collinite 850 to clean up and wax the door and the various parts. Lots of elbow grease goes into it. Coin doors are the most vulnerable part of the pinball, with beers spilled to express one's frustration, anger for a stolen coin with no play and temptation to break into it and get to the coin box.
I think I put everything together, the way it is supposed to be:
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The coin door is equipped with two quarter rejection device: one from Canada and one from the USA. Both are working fine and I had to change the micro switch on the Canada side....
The coin door is connected to the main harness through Jones Plugs as usual. The two wires are the lights for the coin door.
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Inserting a coin credits a play on both chutes. I play all my pinballs with coins. I think it leaves you with a little bit more challenge and excitement, than knowing you can credit as many plays as you would like. Over the course of a few years, the boxes are filling up. I will use that money for my retirement.... It is safer than the Stock Market.
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I have an old Gottlieb coin box but need to find a lid for it.....hint hint.

Yves

Bob,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to own such rare machine. There are still some electrical issues that I need to look into, but overall the pinball plays quite well. I am glad you like it.

Sincerely,
Yves

Just a few details tonight: The lock bar has been cleaned, waxed with Collinite 850 and a new beer strip installed.
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The right rail is finally installed after being polished a little bit to remove some fine scratches:
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I may come back and try to polish it again, once I get the appropriate tool. The left rail is perfect, but not the right. I will also replace the flipper buttons since Marco sells them in white.
The glass is heavily scratched and will have to be replaced entirely. We are getting there.....

Yves

Folks,

the cosmetic restoration is almost completed. I am waiting for some detail parts from The Pinball Resource and Marco Specialties to finish the machine.

I have started looking into some electrical issues (sometimes the machine behaves erratically) and this will take some time and not be very conducive to exciting pictures. I am also looking for someone who can help me get started in the world of EM electric mazes. I have done multiple early Solid State machines before, but this being my first EM is kind of a challenge. The diagnostics function of the early SS pinballs is worth a million dollars.

Yves

Just a few details for today, so to keep the BLOG active..... I replaced the flipper buttons with new parts from Marco. I supposed that after 40 years of faithful and loyal services, the originals could take a rest. I also added the 25C / 1 Play sticker on the coin door (The Pinball Resource).
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Little details....but of importance.

Yves

Folks,

This restoration has come to a screeching halt, due to some electrical problems. I have spent a few white nights chasing a couple of issues with absolutely no success. I have described my issues in this thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/i-need-your-help-lady-luck-by-recelgottlieb-based

I am giving up for the time being as it seems that no one in The Triangle Area is willing to help, even with financial compensation. The machine is completely based on Gottlieb design and parts, even their schematics are identical to Gottlieb schematics. With the success of Gottlieb machines and their proliferation in the field, I thought more people would know how to maintain them. I suppose this is a skill that has been lost.

I will shrink wrap that machine and store it until I feel the energy to try to debug it again. It is a really a sad story and it has disgusted me from EM machines. The Solid State pinballs are a breeze in comparison.

End of the story.
Yves

Many thanks Pinus for comforting me and helping me.
I am in the process of moving right now and will get back to that silly machine in a few weeks, when I have more time to dedicate to it.
The list you provided is very good and I will make sure to read all the materials and watch the videos.

Please start a BLOG for your machine, if you have not done it already. I am very curious about what you got.

Thanks
Yves

The electrical restoration is still going on, slowly and painfully. In order to revive this thread I will be adding URL links to the various electrical issues I have had to deal with and their solutions. Hopefully, this information can help another owner, one day.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/where-to-find-contact-blades-1000-points-relay-gottlieb-1976
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/lady-luck-issue-1-10k-reel-not-incrementing-after-9000

Yves

The machine is still not fully operational, but I have decided to stop my repairs (or attempts to repair) and to instead play it a little bit.
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Here it is, sitting next to Xenon and Medusa.
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Hope you enjoy.
Yves

The Lady Unluck is finally fully operational. It has now regained its original name of "Lady Luck".

The machine was tweaked by John Clements in Raleigh who figured out why it was not switching to Ball 2, 3 ,4 and 5 and Player 1, 2, 3, or 4.

Yesterday, I fixed the coin issue which was not incrementing the replay counter. Inserting coins credits accordingly the replay counter, now.
I also found the issue with the knocker not signalling a Free Play upon scoring the expected amount of points.

The machine is finally up to speed and I can enjoy it fully.

Yves

Lady Luck in good company.....
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Yves

Last improvement on the replay counter. I do not know about you, but in low ambient light (dark room), the replay counter is pretty much unreadable. Since I like to keep track of it, I installed a socket and a #47 bulb.
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It helps a lot and allows an easy reading before re-inserting some quarters.

Yves

I am not sure about what was done on the game as I left Lady Luck with the local specialist in Raleigh, NC. My understanding is that nothing was replaced or repaired.... It was basically just a tedious work to go through all the switches and tighten the two screws that are holding the contacts banks. The person who did it spent a good deal of time and finally managed to make it work.

I still have one issue: occasionally, the 100,000 points counter reel will not increment. It does it for all players which leads me to think it is not a problem with the reels themselves but more the 100K relay. I believe there is a capacitor on that relay and it may need to be replaced after 40 some years.... I will try to get to it one of these days. It is a frustrating issue that has prevented me from scoring free games, many times.

Another weakness of these machines are the cold solders. I would go through all the wires (especially the wires around the motor) and make sure that you do not have a cold solder on some of the contacts. If you do, just re-heat and add some fresh solder and it should work perfectly. I have fixed at least 3 or 4 occurrences of cold solder on the motor and on the 1,000 relay.

This machine is extremely similar in design and working to a 4 players Gottlieb pinball. If you can find someone who has the knowledge of maintaining Gottlieb 4 players machines, he/she should be able to help you out.

Good luck.
Yves

Yes, I will see if I can take a picture. It may be a while as it is not exactly easy to reach.....

Thanks
Yves