The starting point.
Well every restoration starts with a machine… In this case, it is a pretty beat up Funhouse. Funhouse holds a special place in my pinball heart. I fell in love with the machine back in 1993 when I was in college. The grocery store nearest the college I went to had a Funhouse, and a DE Batman just inside the front door. Between me and a few of my buddy’s, I am sure we pretty much paid for that Funhouse. I have always loved the three flipper design, and the stair step ramp integrated with the extra ball shooter.

I managed to make some room in the budget this year by selling my finished restoration project (a SF2), and a DM I raised from the dead. I put a want ad on Pinside, and found the preverbal jackpot for a restorer…. Someone was willing to sell a full machine, plus the horde of parts they had put together to restore it!

So here is what I have for a starting point:
1. Fully functional and complete Funhouse machine
2. New legs
3. A new Mirco Playfield
4. A new set of plastics
5. A full set of Rease’s Rails for FH
6. A Playfield protector
7. New cabinet decals
8. New trap door assembly
9. New trap door playfield plastics

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So I got it home, and I was surprised to find that the game was pretty much completely functional!

I admit I put off stripping it down a few weeks so I could play it. I knew once I began the restoration, it may be a long time before I got to hear from Rudy again...
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One of the issue with the orignal cabinet is the fact that the fiber board in the back box had started to swell. I made the decision soon after I got the machine home that the backbox would have to be replaced.

A few weeks after I picked up Funhouse, cosmokramer (yes, this one ^) built a new backbox for me. I did a test fit, and everything seemed to line up ok.

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So with that out of the way, I went ahead and removed the playfield, and started the stripping process. I think this Funhouse had seen a lot of play in it's day. the bottom of the cabinet was DIRTY...
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The bottom of the cabinet also had the typical WPC sag it it. it wasn't bad (maybe 1/4 of an inch) and the bottom was in pretty good shape otherwise, so I decided just to add some screws into the bottom cross beam to help hold it up.

I am not sure what is up with Rudy... I have never seen plastic discolor this bad. He may need a completely new paint job.

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Aggh!! Naked cabinet!
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After the stripping down, then the cabinet work started...

I have always preferred the sanding technique for removing decals. I have tried using heat guns and scraping, but I tend to end up scraping the cabinet up at the same time.
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I also find it is kinda weird that the graphics leave behind a ghost image.
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My shop is heated, but by a wood stove. Needless to say spraying automotive paints and my heater don't go well together. So I have a 'paint season' in my shop of about April through November. My preferred method of painting is single stage auto paint spraying with an HVLP sprayer. In order for me to do this and completely destroy all the other games in my shop, I have a paint booth I can erect inside my shop. However, putting the booth up takes about three hours of cursing and taping things together.

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And it is up... Time to Paint!
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So this brings us to the primer stage. I learned in with my last restoration (SF2) that you can't just laydown this paint without primer. Single stage paint just goes on too thin, and the wood grain tends to show through. So for this restoration I am starting with a high build primer, then I will sand it down some, and put my color on.

So here is the cabinet after I primed it, and sanded it. I did use a guide coat to try to keep from over sanding it, but I still hit wood in places. In hind site, I should have re-primed it. I think the finished project would have turned out better. Also, trying to use a big priming gun to paint the inside of a cabinet is a b*tch.

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Next came the color! The blue I am using is a pretty close match, but not perfect. I am using a Defleet paint, and here is code if anyone is interested.
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The cabinet came out ok, and the head looks great.
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So you may be asking, "You are going to be putting decals on this, why are you painting the whole thing? Well to be honest, I don't like leaving unused paint in the pot. However on this game I should not have worried. I ended up wasting more paint because I screwed up my mixing one of my batches. 16 oz of painted... Wasted... I also wanted practice painting an entire cabinet because I know soon I will have to do an entire cabinet once I start my Sorcerer restoration. So practice, practice, practice!

I think I now know why professional restorers like High End Pins uses new cabinets for every restoration. The new head for my game was much easier to prime and paint than the old cabinet. My theory is that old plywood just soaks up paint. To the point that it is very hard to get a smooth finish on it. Case in point is the back of my cabinet:
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Even after priming, the grains showed through. I ended up scuffing the back up and putting on another coat. However the head came out very nice, with minimal sanding. (Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the head...)

The inside of the cabinet was worse... It is hard to tell from this photo, but take a look at the reflection of the speaker hole in the side. It is very wavy because the finish is not smooth. It is things like this that drive the perfectionist in my crazy.... However I have to remind myself that very few people will see the inside of the cabinet.
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And this still looks 100% better than what I started with.

So this post will bring me up to date. This morning I went ahead and put the decals on the cabinet.
I laid the decals out between a couple of pieces of playfield glass the night before I was going to install them. They are much easier to work with if they naturally want to lay flat.
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Putting decals on a cabinet is perhaps the most terrifying part of the restoration for me. I know any imperfection in the cabinet I missed will stand out on the decals, and this set has a start button that has to be aligned right. To top it all off, I will get one shot at this... Start over and do this again would be very expensive. Lucky for me, the flashlight method worked out very nicely for me for getting the start button lined up.
Boom! Right in the center

The rest of the cabinet decals went on without an issue. However, I think the next time I do a big cabinet decal, I may get one of my kids to help me. I think it would have gone on with a lot fewer air bubbles if I had.
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Disaster struck when I went to do the head...

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When I went to take the tape off that held the decal in place, it tore. I said a few choice curse words, and decided to go on with installing it. If this is the worst thing that happens during this project, than I will be very lucky.

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Next up: Getting Rudy back on his feet.

As an aside on my paint booth. I think 2 seasons will be about all I will be able to get out of the plastic on this booth. The inside is a pretty uniform color of blue.

The overspray just about overwhelmed the filter during my last session. This filter was new when I started priming.

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It got so bad that what few holes I do have in the booth (for the door and my air hose) were spouting blue, and I am pretty sure I an NOT supposed to have blue on this side of the fan.
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However, it was not nearly the disaster I had to deal with last year when I did SF2. I have one more cabinet to paint this summer, and after that I expect at the end of the year I will just toss the plastic and start with just the frame next year.

They came with the machine when I bought it, so I am not completely sure. Given the high quality of them, I am guessing they came from PPS.

Edit: Yup, they came from PPS. I found this sticker in the middle of the cabinet front decal.

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So this week, I got Rudy back on his feet. This is the first time I have used metal offsets on the legs. I test fitted them after I put the inside plates on. I then removed them and removed the decal from under them. This way, once the legs are on, there is nothing rubbing against the decal to make them wrinkle, and I think they look cleaner than the plastic leg protectors.

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In the last few evenings, I have managed to make a lot of progress on getting the new head put together. So far everything has fit very nicely.

This is also my first time using Williams style ground braid. My last restoration was a Gottlieb that used wire instead of braid. Honestly, the braid looks nicer, but the wire is easier to install.

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The metal back board was a pain to try to clean up. I didn't want to paint it because all the boards ground to it, so I just did my best cleaning it up with mag wheel polish. I think the final project looks pretty good.

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I test fitted the back glass and speaker panel, and it all looks pretty nice.

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Next I’m moving on to repopulating the cabinet.

I have not started it yet. I will have to build a rotisserie and de-populate the old one before I can get onto the new one.

So now I have a decision to make...When I removed the warranty sticker I noted a typo in the amps section of the sticker. The guy I got the decals from was kind enough to include two copies of the decal, one with the typo on it, and one without.... Which on should I use?
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I got them from J_M. He posted is email address here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-cabinet-decal-makers

So last week I turned my attention to the cabinet wiring and ground straps. I am getting a little more use to working with the ground strapping now, and I think the results in the cabinet were better than the work I did in the head. I put the wiring harness through the dishwasher, and they came out in pretty good shape. The other metal parts were all cleaned up with a wire brush that left them with a nice grain. It always amazing me how dust and dirt and rust can combine to make a very hard to remove varnish on most of the metal parts, and only on the sides that face up.
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I also turned my attention to the playfield once again. The first thing I did was make a proper rotisserie. I didn't have one when I did SF2, and after working with one for only a few hours now, I can definitely see their value.

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My setup is a simple pipe stand bolted down to the bench. I drilled the tees and tapped them for 1/4" bolts to serve as a stop. I then put 18" of angle steel on each end bolted to the flanges. If you are thinking of doing something similar, take my advise, and make sure all the joints are snugged down tight before you put the playfield on it. I had to take mine apart after I put the playfield on it the first time because my flanges would turn with the lock down bolts tight. the main disadvantage to my setup is I can only get to one side of it at a time. However, I can reach under the playfield pretty easy, and I can also turn it over easily. Once I get the old playfield cleared off, then I will decide what can be cleaned and re-used, and when needs to be replaced.
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Progress is being made. It helped that my wife was out of the house all evening so I was able to sneak the playfield harnesses into the dishwasher.75882D05-BD10-41B6-8F1F-CFE6CF93B9BE (resized).jpeg

I am still working on the old playfield, removing parts and cleaning them as I go.

I have finally got the old playfield stripped down. Now I get to spend some quality time with my ultra sonic cleaner!

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I’ve had a slight detour lately getting my Sorcerer cabinet ready for paint, but tonight I was able to sneak in some work on FH. All my T-nuts are now installed. Tomorrow evening I hope to wax the entire playfield before I put the rails on.

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Well now that I have the Sorcerer cabinet repaint out of the way I have been able to turn my attention back to Rudy....

I have all of the ball guides polished up and back into place, and the new trap door looks pretty nice too.

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The backside is coming along nicely also. I have most of the switches back in place, and the new GI sockets have been installed as well.
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I am hoping next weekend to start installing the wiring harness and soldering everything up!

Wow, at long last today I was able to remount the playfield in the cabinet. Rudy lives!C6A325B9-9900-4BBF-9F9C-43EC47508D83 (resized).jpeg

There are still a few annoying playfield issues I need to figure out, like the rubber rubbings on the right side of the cabinet every time I raise and lower the playfield. The rubber tends to want to slip off.

Before I did this playfield, I had only worked with reconditioned old playfields. So this is my first new playfield installation. I am honestly not impressed. The clear is brittler than I expected, and the dimpling on the backside was at best a suggestion in most cases. I had to enlarge a lot of holes to get posts to fit at all. In the end because so much rework was required, I had a few cracks appear in my clear. I’ve never worked with a cpr playfield before so I can’t comment on their quality. However if you gave me a choice between installing a restored original playfield or a reproduction, I would choose the restored original.

More progress today. I got the rails on, and the glass channels reinstalled.

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I have not forgotten about this machine. With the help of my rivet press, I have been making progress on populating the new ramps. I just about have the step ramp done.

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The Rivet press has been a welcome addition to my shop.
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I made the press from the pinrestore kit. It requires you to start with a one ton harbor freight arbor press. Making these from the kit is not for the faint hearted. You need to be handy with a drill press to get it put together, otherwise nothing will be straight.

There is nothing like a dead line to get yourself motivated! This year, our family is hosting two Christmas parties at our house. In preparation, my wife has agreed to let me bring to pinball machines into the house! So this has put a bit of a rush on Funhouse!

The bad news is it won’t be 100% complete. I am going to have to postpone few items til after the holidays. Among them are: repainting Rudy, replacing the speakers and speaker cover, and repainting the back box light board. I think theses are all things that can wait until after the holidays.FD1045C0-4746-4C3A-A761-4ABCA45D6B9C (resized).jpeg
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Thanks for the offer, but I think it is almost ready. I’ve just got a few switches to adjust, and I think it will be ready.

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These things always take longer than I expect. The big issue I had tonight was the speaker panel would not sit low enough in its channel to allow the back glass to go in. I finally remounted the mid range speaker, and then everything dropped into place. So I’m declaring Funhouse about 80% done.

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Rudy will be getting a full paint job after the holidays.

Well Funhouse survives the first family Christmas party with only one issue. The right flipper started to stick, and I think it was because I had the OES switch adjusted too tight, and it burned out the fuse. After adjusting the switch I also discovered the liner in the flipper coil was grooved. So I had to swap out the coil.

I am also rethinking some of the LEDS I put in the flashers. They are just too bright. Especially the ones behind Rudy, and the three in the shooter lane. I may try adjusting them to not face outward before I put regular bulbs back in.

My kids love the machine. I think I am going to have a hard time moving it back to the shop after the holidays.

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So with the holiday madness now over, Rudy is back into my shop.

I have now decided to turn my attention to the sound system in the game. I have never liked the speaker system used in the pre-DCS games, so I have decided to do a speaker upgrade in my Funhouse.

For this upgrade, I will be following the guide presented here: www.dziedzic.us/wpc_speaker_replacement.html

Basically, I will be replacing the cabinet speaker with a woofer, and installing a pair of full range speaker in the back box. It won't be stereo, but it should be an improvement over the stock speaker system. My wiring when I am done will look like this:
Image from www.dziedzic.us

Last night I went ahead and tore down the speaker panel. The speaker grills had to come off anyway because I need to re-paint them. IMG_8276 (resized).JPG

As you can see, The stock speaker was a 5.5" mid range with a 3" tweeter. I will be replacing them with a pair of Pyle PL63BL's. These are nice full range speakers that will fit well into the existing cabinet. The only bad part about this conversion is that I will have to cut the speaker panel to accommodate the 5.5" speakers on both side. IMG_8280 (resized).JPGIMG_8278 (resized).JPG

Hmmm... That may be a possibility. My only concern is that it leaves the speaker partially covered.

So I cleaned up the coin door yesterday. It wasn’t in too bad of shape, and just about everything came clean in the sonic cleaner.Almost doneReady for a bath

So we had some warm weather today. I was able to escape to the shop and repaint the back board. I was also able to mount up my speakers for a test fit. I still need to repaint the speaker grills.C66BF83F-FF73-462E-A2A5-2CECF74673BE (resized).jpeg4A44B196-FF21-4701-B88B-EA6289BFE4A3 (resized).jpeg

It’s getting pretty close to done.

So I wrapped up the speaker upgrade today...

First of all, I mounted the L pad in the head. A lot of people put it in the bottom of the cabinet, but I didn't see the point of running a lot of extra wire. However, this does mean to adjust the high end of the sound, you have to take the backglass off. The head speakers are then run off the right hand speaker port on J2 of the sound board.
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The low end bypass filter was then mounted next to the subwoofer speaker in the cabinet. I used a 6 inch woofer so I didn't have to modify the cabinet to mount the speaker. I then connected this to J1 on the sound board. I re-used the cabinet wiring to get the signal down to the subwoofer.
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So, does it work?.... OH YEAH! You bet it does. It does take a little tweaking to get right. You can increase the base by raising the machine volume, and then you can adjust the mid/high range by adjusting the L-pad in the back box. It is tempting to run a lot of base, but I quickly found it made the machine buzz too much. So I turned it down to the point where you could feel the base, but it was not trying to rattle Rudy's teeth out. It sounds much better. A lot of mid-range sounds that are complete lost in the stock setup come out nicely with the new speakers.

Next up... Rudy returns!!!

So Rudy... He was a bit of a mess when I started. He looked like years of hocking the midway had taken its toll on him. His skin was mis-colored, and his eyes had faded to an ugly shade of yellow.

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The inside of Rudy didn't look much better. I don't think he had ever been cleaned.

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My original plan was repaint Rudy something close to the original factory colors. I am handy with an airbrush (see https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/restoring-a-bride-of-pinbot-helmet ), and was planning on doing it myself. However, then winter set in here in the Mountains, and painting in my shop became nearly impossible.

So I recruited the modfather to bring Rudy back to life. I have to admit, I am not a fan of the blood shot eyed Rudy that he does, so I sent Rudy to Florida with the instructions to 'make him look stock'. Well Mod Father came through for me in a big way. Rudy's skin now looks more natural, and his eyes are no long yellow. In fact they look better than stock in my opinion.

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So I cleaned up the insides with a bath in my sonic cleaner, and then did some polishing on the scoop. I think the insides cleaned up very well.
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So with the newly painted parts installed, Rudy went back into his place...

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I do like the dark highlights in his hair now.
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So there you have it, one lightly modded Rudy.

Well I am going to declare this one complete. Ive spent the last few weeks getting all the bugs out of it.

I learned a lot rebuilding this one. I had to deal with a new playfield for the first time, and found it was not as easy to install one as it seems. I continued to develop my cabinet painting skills. This one was fun.

Next on the list, I will be completing my Sorcerer.

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It is actually going to a friend of mine. I wish I could keep it, but I have way too much money into it.