BOOM! I got a TZ for dirt cheap!

Mimatt

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I finally got my pinball holy grail! And the kicker - it only cost me $2250.

The downside - it needs a good bit of work.
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Apologies if the pics are appearing ginormous.. I edited them, yet it seems to still be showing them in their original sizes.
 
Tz

Nice looking pin, a little cleaning and fix some stuff and 2200 not a bad deal if I say so my self. Nice find.
 
I got this from the owner of a local dive bar here in town who really wanted the money to put towards a Harley Davidson machine. I spent most of the day cleaning the playfields. There was a thick cake of dirt over the entire thing. Novus 2 and a power drill cleaning kit cleaned it right off!

Honestly, the guy never should've owned this machine. He seriously neglected it - all the optos are out, and the rubber rings are literally so crusted over, they'll probably break if you touch 'em.
 
Maybe all that dirt helped to protect the playfield.

Who around town had a TZ on location? I didn't know of any places that had good pins out (besides Game Galaxy).
 
Maybe all that dirt helped to protect the playfield.

Who around town had a TZ on location? I didn't know of any places that had good pins out (besides Game Galaxy).

It was at a nasty-ass biker bar in Donelson! The owner of Game Galaxy was the person that helped me get it.

The playfield is in pretty nice shape. I can't seem to get rid of the smell of cigarette smoke, though.

But as you can see by the credit dot in the picture, the game needs serious repair.
 
Try throwing some dryer sheets inside the cab both underneath and on top of the playfield. You could also open up a box of arm & hammer baking soda and stash in underneath the playfield for a while to help absorb the cig stink. Good luck!
 
Nice pickup! I would love to own a TZ! (seriously anybody near Philly have one they wanna trade?) Good luck getting yours going, they are known to be a tougher pin to get 100%.
-Mark
 
Nice pickup! I would love to own a TZ! (seriously anybody near Philly have one they wanna trade?) Good luck getting yours going, they are known to be a tougher pin to get 100%.
-Mark

Thanks.

Right now, I'm getting the fun filled "Ball popper optos are stuck" message, but every opto on the machine seems to be out. I took a multimeter to the opto board and alot of the resistors on the PCB are dead. Plus I'm gonna change out the LM339 chips while I've got the board out.
 
Congrats on the score! I'm super jealous! I would love to add a Twilight to my collection, it's my second holy grail machine after Addams Family. If I could find one for that price I would jump all over it and wouldn't be scared of it being a project either!

Good luck on getting it in back in shape. Put up some pics and vids when you get it fixed up!
 
Repair update.

I installed a new opto board from Great Lakes Modular, and all the optos work except for the ones in the auto shooter. The 'Ball popper opto is stuck' message is now gone.

But the game is now playable. But until I replace the optos in the shooter (parts have been ordered), it doesn't fire the balls into the gumball machine.

After I repair the optos, next on my agenda will be to buy a new clock PCB w/LED's. My current one works when it wants to, but it does not light up.
 
after a thurough cleaning if it still smells:

make a small room just a little bigger than the machine with some tarps. Get an ionizer.. a professional one like this is best..

http://www.google.com/products/cata...=V8RrULPoNZSg8gSKjYHwCw&sqi=2&ved=0CFUQ8wIwAA

but one like this might work too
http://www.google.com/products/cata...a=X&ei=n8RrUMueDoTm8gS2xoCICg&ved=0CG4Q8wIwAA

WHen you do this leave the coindoor open, playfield glass off, backbox open, heck even prop the playfield up a little.


You will be amazed at how well an ionizer will zap cigarette smoke smell(and any other smell for that matter). Thats what we use at my work to get that stank out of a smokers trade in vehicle. I know it works for other things because we did the "tarp room" trick to get house-fire smoke smell out of my dads best friends military memoribilia after he suffered a house fire. Worked great.
 
Thanks for the advice Cadillacman.

I've actually got a minature bathroom ionizer that would fit inside the cabinet. I can't believe I didn't think of that!
 
I had a FT that wreaked of smoke..it stunk up the whole office at work. Cut up some apples and 'used' coffee grounds and stick them in the cab and head. After the weekend the smell was barely noticeable..and completely gone by the following weekend
 
Some parts arrived today.

Installed a new slot machine scoop and a reinforced greed target. My old slot machine scoop and target were totally trashed.

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The target was so bent out of shape, it basically acted as a spring, and sent the ball airborne 90% of the time. The new target is a godsend. If you have a TZ, I highly recommend them. The new slot machine scoop designs also add another layer of reinforcement foor the targets with a bar that runs behind it to prevent it from bending.
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