Can a Pole Position be bullet proofed?

sohchx

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I just recently came across a working PP. It's not a grail of mine but I feel like it needs to be in my collection because I had history with it as a child. I always liked the game but never played it much because it was to difficult.I have always avoided buying them because of the numerous issues and also the fact that they never work. Being that this thing actually works I'm wondering,for how long? With that being said what are the known methods for bullet proofing one of these. Are the PCB's the main issue with these most of the time? I'm sure the PS is probably another issue. I've always wanted to know why they never work.
 
I hear there are some improvements that can be done, mostly with adding extra 5v lines to take the excessive load off the edge connector. There's also a KLOVer working on a replacement PP/PPII multigame board, so hopefully that will be a viable solution soon too.
 
Mine worked for all of a half hour after I got it home, then stuff started breaking on it.
 
bulletproofing a pole position = removing monitor and controls and hooking up an atari 2600 and an old school tv in it's place.
 
I did the 5v and ground mods and (KNOCK ON WOOD) mine has been going for almost two year s (KNOCK ON WOOD) KNOCKING ON WOOD!!! !
 
Mine has been running solid for almost a year, 6 days a week, 8-9 hours a day. Never ran and +5 lines. It has a board from Dick Millikan. Which reminds me I have to ship him my PPII board.
 
The power supply's are horribly designed. If you do the test point mods and the battery removal and put a good solid 20A switcher in... Then yes they can be pretty reliable. If your using the edge connectors, it's not if, but when will it fail. Just too much amperage for that connector!

Some really cool internal Atari company memo's talking about the design flaws. It's not my opinion, written fact that the machine wasn't OK off the production line.

The boards custom chips are also very sensitive to heat, so make sure the cabinet fan is installed and running.

This was one of my more enjoyable machine restores. Wish I hadn't sold it, but EAConner has it now. Still works great.
 
I think the best way to bulletproof a pole position is to send the board to Dick Millikan everytime it breaks. He'll probably eventually get it working really, really well permanently (maybe the first time!)
 
I remember playing it back in the day in a cockpit cabinet. I have played it a few times since but I never understood why anyone would want to stand up and drive. If I ended up with one, it would need to be the cockpit cabinet but I do not think I would be able to get it into my basement.
 
After all the reading of what needs done this is sounding more like a headache that I dont want to deal with lol.

I wouldn't be discouraged by all of this! Pole Position is one of my top games! I have two of these cabinets.
 
After all the reading of what needs done this is sounding more like a headache that I dont want to deal with lol.

It all depends where you're at in terms of skill. I solder for a living, so swapping out a few this or that, or adding a jumper doesn't bother me. Considering that half of the parts I work with require a microscope, doing through-hole soldering with 80's-sized components is a breeze.
 
It all depends where you're at in terms of skill. I solder for a living, so swapping out a few this or that, or adding a jumper doesn't bother me. Considering that half of the parts I work with require a microscope, doing through-hole soldering with 80's-sized components is a breeze.

I too solder for a living,surface mount and through hole by scope so thats not an issue. I just dont want to put that much work into a game thats not a grail. Especially after seeing the game again the other day,it needs more work than I thought even though it does work. I'm completely worn out on doing complete restorations.
 
It's really not that bad. The 5V mods are simply running new wires to the 5V test points on the board. It gets a terrible reputation here and I think that scares people away from it.

IMHO, it really is the "classic" driving game of the 80s.
 
I have had two of them now, and both started immediately getting worse as I tried to make them better.

I know someone is trying to make a PROPER pin compatible replacement board that isn't emulated, but can't someone just stick the emulated version on a Jamma board and be done with it.
 
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