Williams Grand Lizard

[Nephasth]

Truck? Check.
Straps? Check.
Tarps? Check.
Blankets? Check.
Coffee? Check.

[GibsonRiddler]

This seems to be the reason you sold your pin.

[Nephasth]

[Well Fed Games]

Now you are just teasing, and I don't know enough about pinballs to guess... but it is a Williams! 

[yotsuya]

I'm home after 6. Thanks again for your very generous offer of delivering this for me. 

[ChadTower]

Heh, that's a fun game.  I won't spoil it by revealing the title.   

Let's hope you like drums!

[Nephasth]

Love drums! But it needs more cowbell.



Way out in BFE.

[yotsuya]

That's beautiful, man.

[PL1]

Looks like a grand find from 1986.   


Scott

[Nephasth]

That's beautiful, man.

One man's beautiful is another man's desolation...

Made it back after 9 hours.


Here she is set up in the game room!


She's a little rough. Upper left flipper is not working, magna saves aren't working, ball lock isn't working, displays are intermittent, heavy upper playfield wear, back glass is flaking a little, and pretty dirty overall. But I'm happy with it! Would love to do a full restore on it eventually, but first is getting it clean and fully functional to enjoy for a while!

[Well Fed Games]

Very cool, never saw that one before. Congrats. 

[ChadTower]

Whoa dude.  490 miles for a project Grand Lizard... nice!   

[Nephasth]

You do what you have to do to keep the hobby fueled. It's not easy acquiring pins or vids in BFE. I drove a little farther than this to get my skeeball machine, nothing in my game room was found in the city I live in, and most weren't working when I picked them up. Some people are just a little more dedicated than others...

Displays are no longer intermittent, but one of the 7 digit numeric displays is dead. Brought one of the magnasaves back to life and fixed the ball lock problem. A little bit of progress.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Looks fun.  Wise man once said mame was the gateway drug to dedicated cabs.  For me mame was the gateway drug to pinball machines.  This won't be your last one. 

[Nephasth]

This won't be your last one.

Don't tell the wife that!

[Nephasth]

Pinball machines are a lot of work. Reminds me of my days as a mechanic.

Functionality wise, almost everything is fixed. So far the things I've done:

• Fixed the ball lock by adjusting a switch actuator and reinstalling the stop that was found in the bottom of the cabinet.
• Fixed both magnasaves. Initially the ground wire for them was disconnected in the head. Once connected the right magnasave began working. Took apart the left magnasave electromagnet and found a thermal switch had come disconnected. Resoldered the switch and both magnasaves are back to normal.
• One coil on the 4 bank drop targets had a broken reset plate. A previous owner tried to JB Weld it without success. Had my buddy Dmen tig weld it back together. Reinstalled the plate and the drop targets are working fine now.
• The game wouldn't start properly. I could only get it to start a game if I held the ball lock switch down while pressing start. Turns out the switch actuator wire for the first ball in line next to the plunger was turned around backwards. I don't know if the kick out caught it and spun it around or if someone reinstalled it wrong, but once it was put back to normal the game starts as it should
• Removed all the plastics, cleaned them, and flattened them out in the oven. One was warped so bad it would cause the ball to get stuck going into the ball lock.
• Did a quick clean on the playfield and ramps with some Novus 1
• Pressed the raised inserts back into their holes. Not all went flush, but are much better than they were. I'll have to try the c-clamp method later.
• Replaced about a half dozen lights.

Things left to do:

• Fix the upper left flipper.
• Replace player 3's display.
• Give it a proper cleaning and wax.

Thanksgiving is upon us, so I buttoned it up for the family to play tomorrow. She rounds out the game room nicely.

[yotsuya]

That pinball is so Metal. You just need your Satan's Hollow next to it! 

[Nephasth]

That pinball is so Metal. You just need your Satan's Hollow next to it! 

Ah, the ever elusive Satan's Hollow. Someday you'll be mine. The last piece of the game room puzzle...

[ChadTower]

That won't be last.  Once you get a Satan's Hollow you'll want a Devil's Dare to go next to it.

[HaRuMaN]

Or a Gorgar....

[Xiaou2]

Very Nice.

 If I may suggest...  and if you can get your mitts on it..  use F21 (formula 21).   Its a urethane based surface treatment.  A much better alternative to wax, IMO.   

 Wax gets very dirty in a pinball, and traps the dirt inside it.  Then the dirty-wax covered ball carries the metal particles and carbon soot, all over the machine.  Its also very limited in its protection, even when its clean.  A good spin on a pinball can cut right through it.  Afterwords, its very difficult to remove all the dirty wax.  And worse, is that often, lodged metal flakes in waxed areas get driven deep into a playfields surface... rather harmlessly than getting pushed out of the way.

 F21 will reduce the surface friction to probably less than half that of wax. The ball will rocket around the field.  And the field will look glossy, almost brand new.  The anti-frictional protection is far superior to wax.  Ive used it on-location in a busy mall arcade... on a No-Fear & Twilight Zone, for a duration of about 2yrs, with no sight of wear or damages.   Sales increased, as people enjoyed the shiny look, and faster 'like-new' gameplay.

 If the machine is played often, a simple once a week wipe down is all you need.  Takes less than 6min.   

 In the arcade,  with wax alone, a cleaned No Fear would be soot black in a mere weeks time.  With F21, I could barely detect any soil, even after 3weeks time, without additional application.   However, after the initial tests, I then kept a weekly application / wipe-down schedule.

 Also remember, that an older field, is much more pitted and scratched up than a new field.  That slows the ball speed down dramatically.  Anything that reduces friction, as well as fills in the gaps, will make the ball speed much closer to a pristine smooth surface.

 Finally, when you do clean a machine, make sure to clean the under playfield subways as well.  They are often hard to remove, but they also often have the most trapped filth.  Your newly cleaned machine will be dirty in a very short time, if they are not cleaned as well.


 Ohh... and clean up any carbon soot around coils / under-field.  It seems that existing soot, helps attract new soot to adhere much quicker.  Its like a magnet.

 Ive often thought about putting a powerful Ionizer, inside the bottom of a machine...

[jasonbar]

A Grand Lizard joined my lineup recently too. Awesome awesome game.

-Jason

[Nephasth]

Congrats! You even have one with a proto backglass! Very nice!

[jasonbar]

...and silly "fire" cauldrons on the backbox (lights & fans blowing plastic foil). Those are going bye-bye as soon as I find time...

-Jason

[Nephasth]

I got a skull on top of mine... How long have you had the garcade? Didn't your MAME rig used to be in a hallway type area?

[jasonbar]

Excellent memory. I'm flattered! Yes, my MAME cab used to be in a small bedroom closet (with the sliding doors removed). The rest of that bedroom was taken up with a Pin2k & Junk Yard pin & a desk.

I moved last month: 3-car garage + a tandem parking spot behind the garage. Hooray! Upped the pin count by 1. Probably room for 1 more if I try. (After I finish swapping the p2k art & reconnect all of the MAME cab's internal cables, which I had to undo when I removed its CP to get it through doors on its way out of the old home.)

-Jason

[Nephasth]

Congrats on the upgraded space as well!

[Nephasth]

Jason,

Could you post a pic of your playfield? Does it still have the mylar on it? Everything in working order? Have you gotten a high score on it yet?

[jasonbar]

In addition to the new home, I've got a new job & a new gamer (attached) & a new CRT for my consoles & a new (to me) Congo, new this, new that, etc. etc. (After I type this post, I'm going to assemble a new table, in fact!)

I haven't even played my GL yet, alas...still moving in, etc. I played it for about 1 minute so far just for a super-preliminary test. Everything seems to be in order, but there will surely be a tweak or two required.


So, no high scores yet...I'm not even sure if the PF has Mylar. *blush*


Attached are 4 pics from the guy who sold it to me. The art has a lot of fine spider cracks that show up pretty much only in the solid black art. Per the previous previous owner, the cracks were there ages ago & haven't progressed.


Thanks,
-Jason

[Nephasth]

Wow man! Your machine is in BEAUTIFUL shape!

[jasonbar]

Cab pics (from the fellow who sold it to me).

-Jason

[Nephasth]

These will show you the other end of the spectrum as far as condition goes. First pic is right before I pulled the main playfield mylar off. Second is with no mylar and after some cleaning and waxing.