APB Restoration

[retroACTIVE]

DONE!!!! Final Shots

Painted... nice and clean now!!!

Now that looks much better ....

Now the control panel. To be honest, I really would like to strip this down, powder coat it and put a nice silk screened reproduction overlay on it... but since that doesn't exist ...yet... ahem... I am just going to clean this, change the wheel out and the buttons out to pep it up a bit.

Old rusty wheel...

Bad buttons...

Gummed up bearings...

 

[retroACTIVE]

DONE!!!! Final Shots

Filthy wheel hub...

Dismantling "The 500" wheel

Bobs buttons

 

[retroACTIVE]

DONE!!!! Final Shots

Stripped and cleaned

Installing the hub...

...the large wheel bearing

...the wheel

...and the encoder pcb.

 

[retroACTIVE]

DONE!!!! Final Shots

The last of the wheel...

Installation of the EMI shield. Of course this piece was missing from my APB... found one and then found the knurled nuts used to anchor it...

The APB System 2 Boards, properly mounted in the APB cabinet:

A view from above...

 

[retroACTIVE]

DONE!!!! THE Final Shots

Control Panel...

Atari's APB

Thats all folks!!! I hope that there is some information in this thread to help other APB lovers out there!!! This was very fun... now back to Space Invaders

 

[Witchboard]

Very nice! My A.P.B. is on my list after my Ms. Pac, which is after my current Vindicators restoration. Thanks for the great shots and info. Enjoy your game!

 

[sohchx]

Great job!! I feel you on the overlay and I don't know why no one has jumped on doing a repro.Mine is in really nice shape it just has the typical yellowing of the white. I had no idea Bob had a button set specifically for this game.

 

[pmichelsen]

DAMN!! She looks beautiful, great job. Makes me want to play some APB this afternoon.

 

[Schusler]

Nice Job, RA!!!! Too bad this game doesn't deserve more love!!

What did you use to clean the steering wheel and how as your c.p. under the wheel housing? About every APB I've come across this area is always rough looking....

 

[retroACTIVE]

Nice Job, RA!!!! Too bad this game doesn't deserve more love!!

What did you use to clean the steering wheel and how as your c.p. under the wheel housing? About every APB I've come across this area is always rough looking....

I know right... there is no way I could ever afford to part with this game... I'm totally upside down on it(probably a few times) financially. Did it for the love of the game and nothing else.

I actually purchased a steering wheel from another gent, I just replaced it. I still have the old rusted one. It's funny I've been asked that question by several people now... maybe someday I'll try and buff out the old one to see how well I can do... my guess is that it is difficult otherwise folks wouldn't be asking.

The underside of the control panel was not bad... it was in fact pretty darn clean... so I guess I got lucky

 

[pmichelsen]

What did the spacer look like that goes between the CP and the piece of sheet metal, to hold the steering wheel housing? Mine had what looked like a piece of PVC in there and it didn't seem very strong so I fabbed up this, it's the exact thickness of the space between the CP and the sheet metal. I though about making it out of a chunk of ABS but didn't have any lying around the shop.

 

[retroACTIVE]

What did the spacer look like that goes between the CP and the piece of sheet metal, to hold the steering wheel housing? Mine had what looked like a piece of PVC in there and it didn't seem very strong so I fabbed up this, it's the exact thickness of the space between the CP and the sheet metal. I though about making it out of a chunk of ABS but didn't have any lying around the shop.

Oooh I like that!... yeah it appeared to be a very flimsy thin quage slice of pvc tubing ... < 1/8" thick about 4" in diameter and about 3/4" high if I recall. It wasn't broke so I went with it... I like what you did with that piece. I may have to do that at some point.

 

[pmichelsen]

Yeah mine had the same tubing, I assumed it was something someone had used to rig it. The wood block was extremely easy to make, took about 5-10 minutes.

 

[retroACTIVE]

Yeah mine had the same tubing, I assumed it was something someone had used to rig it. The wood block was extremely easy to make, took about 5-10 minutes.

A buddy of mine [SuperBee4406] also has an APB but someone had retrofitted his with a Pole Position wheel and that is a much better wheel.. the hub and everything seemed to be made of steel or cast aluminum and had a much more rugged feel to it. Even though mine is completely rebuilt to factory new... its just not as tough as I think it should be for an arcade machine... so no wonder they all have been busted up.

 

[Witchboard]

That's definitely going to be a point of interest on my restoration. My plastic housing looks cracked and I can see what I thought was also an op repair of the PVC plastic in there. I won't know more until I start the restore. Great pics on those modifications. I'll definitely keep them in mind when I start.

 

[ManiN]

That CPO looks pretty good with no rips etc. You should hit it with a magic eraser. It will make the while lines look really white again. Nothing does a better job on rejuvenating CPOs. Same with other artwork, but be careful and watch how hard you're rubbing on painted surfaces.

 

[SuperGunGuru]

Great job! Looks awesome!