Burger Time Restoration Project

CraigL

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I am new here, and wanting to restore my first game.

The game was originally a burger time (we had no clue when we got it). It has been converted to Guardian.

Currently the game does not work, the power supply board has some issues. I am awaiting some components to make the repair.

My question is, would it be better to restore it to play the Guardian game, or would it be worth my time to convert it back to a Burger Time? I feel technically competent to restore it either way (I am an electrical engineer, and my friend helping is a carpenter) so my biggest issue is deciding which direction to go.

Thanks for your time.
 
Welcome to klov.

I restored a Burgertime (it was wired for jamma, so I bought a multi for it) recently, and I LOVE it. It was the talk of the neighborhood for a good long time. My vote is for Burgertime, but be warned, it might get costy.

Good luck! There are a number of great threads here and elsewhere about Burgertime restorations. Here's one and here's another. Have fun.
 
Is it the Midway cab:
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or the DECO cab?
1136148066.jpg


I've never played Guardian, so I can't really comment on that, but I would say unless you are a fan of Guardian, I would convert it back... If it's the Midway cab, just about every part has been repro'd, there are cabinet stencils available, and the board set isn't that hard to find. The DECO one is not as easy...

Either way, it's a cool looking game to have in the gameroom, and a lot of fun
 
It is the midway cab.

So far I am in it for a total of $0. The guy advertised it in the classified as giveaway. He had no clue what it was, but it was in his way, and didnt work. As far as I can tell, once the psu is repaired, it should be operational, nothing obvious at least.

The cabinet needs a lot of repairs, definitely do-able though. My biggest goal is the experience of doing the restore, but I would love to sell it once completed and try and make at least part of my investment back.
 
When you sell it, you'll certainly get "part of your investment back" but its safe to assume that will be a smaller part than you kinda hoped for. Like most any restoration work, the payback is well below 100%.

I went through a restore recently that was converted to a different game. I needed a lot of parts and that adds to the cost. PCB, wiring harness, control panel overlay, side art (in your case stencils), marquee, monitor bezel, new feet/locks/buttons, maybe a cap kit for the monitor, tmolding, possibly some coin door parts, maybe the joystick isn't the original style, etc.

Hopefully that isn't discouraging because those are awesome games and really are unique. Just be prepared to get only a percentage of your investment. Or, keep it afterward and admire the work you did!
 
I would totally convert it back to a Burger Time. It's a fun game, cool cabinet design, and that stenciled side art! I think it would be a really fun project. As others have said, you may not be able to sell it for much (if any) more than you'd spend on parts for it. But if you enjoy the restoration process and the personal satisfaction of rescuing a great classic game, you can't go wrong.
 
I am very excited to get started. I hope to have the psu done sometime this weekend so that I can see if there is any further damage to what we have.

We are leaning more towards converting it back to burger time, but it is in really bad shape, and if we can't get what we have functioning, we feel it would be better to select a cabinet in better shape for our first project.

Am I allowed to post links? I have some pictures on my personal blog.
 
Post the pictures directly in this thread as some people don't like clicking to outside sites.

Also, list your location in your profile so people know where you are. You might find someone interested in purchasing it or even offering local help.
 
Pictures, all taken before cleaning. Will take after shots sometime this weekend. Got my new caps, diodes and transistors today for some repairs to see if we can get it to fire up this weekend.





The inside looks a lot worse than it is, it cleaned up very nice.


Found this inside the box in the bottom that houses the transformers. I thought it was neat.

 
I'm restoring one as well so far I got the game working, cabinet striped, found a marquee and original monitor glass (both of which are a PAIN IN THE ASS to find). Next is the CP need to fix the extra holes and get an overlay. I would try the game out on MAME or something like that to see if you like it. I really like this game so the effort of securing the parts is worth it for me. :D


Oh and if you need the correct pinout let me know I figured it out. I searched like 5 or 6 different web pages all of which had a different pinout and all where wrong.
 
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Might just be the pic, but those little brackets holding up the monitor look really sketchy. I think it'll be much happier rotated vertically!
 
Might just be the pic, but those little brackets holding up the monitor look really sketchy. I think it'll be much happier rotated vertically!

They are extremely sketchy! You should see the screw job holding them in there lol.
 
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