Well, it has been a while since I've had a chance to do some actual work on this thing. I got married and just recently got back from my honeymoon (why the hell is it called that?). Now with all the busy life stuff out of the way (and before I get to work on makin' babies), work can resume on the beast. Some of the "behind the scenes" stuff that has been going on was gutting the cabinet of unnecessary parts. The original control panels have been removed, the buttons and Atari logo joysticks were sold to help fund the project (got more out of those than I paid for the whole machine). Also removed the JAMMA harness from the cab.
Today I installed my speakers into the topper. To make things easier (wanted to avoid working on a ladder), I removed the topper from the cabinet.
Here's a shot of preparing to remove the topper. Removed speaker grills, speakers, marquee, and marquee light.
Topper removed and on the floor to work on. It was much lighter than I anticipated.
Drilled two holes into each speaker base to mount inside of the topper.
Speakers installed. View through marquee opening.
View from inside.
View from front through speaker opening.
I then reinstalled the speaker grills and mirror and remounted the topper onto the cab. It is held on with four 1/4" bolts that go up through the bottom of the topper.
Shot of wiring routing (unsecured for now).
Marquee reinstalled. Love the stock look with the speaker grills, can't even tell computer speakers are behind them.
Still shooting for the goal of getting the machine mostly functional. Down the road I will remove the topper again to do a little body repair and refinishing. The topper only takes about 5 minutes to remove (including disconnecting wiring). I won't have to remove the topper to install the marquee lighting, it will mount directly to the back side of the marquee.
I also started tackling the issue of my custom CPs not fitting quite right. This was caused by a combination of my measurement taking of the old CPs and the fact that metal stretches when you bend it (thus making my panels a little longer than the originals). Here you can see how the CP does not sit down all the way on the CP mounting brackets.
I loosened the right side CP box and found the CP to sit down fully with the box pulled out about an 1/8th of an inch. I placed large washers between the CP box and the cab and tightened it up, but the box wasn't completely stable. I've decided to use the old marquee plexi as the spacers for the CP boxes. This will provide a solid mount for the boxes. Here you can see the gap. The gap will be mostly hidden with new t-molding.
Now the CP sits completely down on the brackets and the mounting holes line up perfectly. I will have to cut the corners off the right mounting brackets in both CP boxes to accommodate the right most buttons. I will also have to modify the left joystick bases a little to fit next to the left side brackets.
That's it for now. Next up I will be getting the CPs and coin doors powder coated and installing the controls in the CPs once that is done. Inching my way closer towards functionality.