Pole Position

[FrizzleFried]

Pole Position is ALMOST done. Actually, she IS done in her current Pole Position configuration, but the cab runs both PP and PPII so naturally I needed artwork for both... so I have a Pole Position II bezel as well as a Pole Position II glass marquee on their way. Once I convert to PPII, chances are it will stay that way, but I will keep the stock Pole Postion bezel and marquee to keep them included with the game.

Anyhow, I cleaned up the art on both sides... cleaned up th front... cleaned out the cab from top to bottom. I decided to keep the stock T-Molding which is in about 8/10 condition with a few scuffs here and there due to the fact that the upper left of the cab has taken on some water at some point and is swollen ever so slightly and I don't really want to screw with it. I was thinking RED T-Molding would look kickass, but it would certainly make the swelling more noticeable. The bottom front of the left side had a hunk of corner taken out luckily good `ole corner protectors covered up the damage nicely. Normally I'd repair this corner, but to do so would require the whole side to be restored and it's just not worth it for this cab... the corner protector option looks good and hides the damage so well you couldn't see it if you looked... a decent solution for this low-budget project. The aging and pretty beat down CPO had to be replaced and luckily I managed to take Rich's very last Pole Position CPO (www.thisoldgame.com) which turned out kickass. I dropped the 8-liners monitor I picked up for $160.00 in to the cab and it looks nice. I did have to swap monitor frames to get it to fit right though. I repaired the pedal which had slipped the metal pot wire...and rigged it so it wouldn't slip anymore. I ran dedicated +5 and GND lines from a switcher to both the CPU and video PCB's complete with molex connector. I used a USPS "Triangle" priority box to create an exhaust duct for the PCB cage and fan. The marquee lamp was replaced as was the starter and ballast. I also wired in a momentary "lock switch" in the coin door lock that serves as a credit button as we all know Pole Position's attract mode in FREEPLAY is non-existent.

TO DO: Re-wire cabinet edge connectors... replace PP bezel and marquee with PPII bezel and marquee. I am waiting on my delivery from Bob (Wednesday) to rewire the edge connectors and my bezel and marquee should be here shortly.

That's it! Thus far PPII has taken up home in the cabinet and I feel it will remain so for some time... the game is just fun and I like the selection of tracks.

Here are some pix:









This is the Pole Position 1 boardset sitting in it's drawer.  You can see the power/gnd mod that I did to it...

[RetroACTIVE]

Thats a real nice clean machine you have.  Pole Position is one of my must haves but every one I've come across is always in such crappy shape.  Maybe someday...

I don't know  too much about Pole Position except that it has a high failure rate.  Does the power-ground mod serve the purpose of extending the life of the unit or is it just for overall reliability issues?

[ChadTower]

Yeah, PP/PPII is one of the few rasters I really want to have someday.  I would definitely be interested in seeing any mods that made it more reliable.

I played a sitdown PP clone at Funspot a few weeks ago whose name escapes me... this one had three monitors and was also by Atari.  It was really cool.

[FrizzleFried]

Aside from the tons of custom chips the boardset uses,  the main problem with keeping a Pole Position (I or II) up and running was the +5 and/or GND at the edge connector and the sense circuit the Atari power supplies utilize.  Basically the two PP boards need a good amount of juice and the sense circuit is there to automatically maintain a good flow of juice to the boardset.  The problem is that the sense circuit would start to fail causing it to pump more and more voltage... eventually killing the PCB most oftentimes though,  just burning up the edge connector and the traces around the edge of the PCB, etc.

The +5 mod is simple... you connect all the test points for each board (CPU & VID) in a big loop then run each wire (two +5 and two GND) to a molex connector of your choice.  Remove the +5 (you can keep the GND) from the original edge connectors so the supply from the original PS isn't flowing... then wire up a switcher to the other end of the molex connector.

Some people actually use a separate switcher for the CPU and VID boards,  but I thought that was overkill considering the cab is only on for short periods of time in the home.

[ChadTower]

Nice.  I'll have to keep that in mind next time I run into a cheap PP.

[HaRuMaN]

I want a PP so bad.  (More to surprise the wife.  It's her holy grail, but I like playing, too.)

[lcddream]

I just scored a PP - question did you do the conversion to PPII yourself, or was it already in there? Anymore info on how to do it?

One other question, where do you pick up your fuses from?

[RayB]

I played a sitdown PP clone at Funspot a few weeks ago whose name escapes me... this one had three monitors and was also by Atari.  It was really cool.

TX-1