Killer Instinct MAME abomination rescue

stkataran

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I picked up a clean (art-wise) cabinet that will need a lot of love to get bring it back to its former self. I didnt need another project cabinet on top of my other project cabinets, nor do I have the space right now, but it was too good of a deal to pass up.

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The monitor is a 20 inch flat screen that looks ridiculous, half-assed mashed into the cabinet.
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It used to have a computer set up screwed into the right side of the cabinet, with a ton of games on two hard drives.
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It died at some point, so the owner put in a raspberry pi.
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Of course, the control panel harness has been cut, because that is easier than unplugging everything. Those are easy to fine, right?
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A lot is going on with the control panel...
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A bonus though, the original board and hard drive still lives among the iterations of this cabinets life!
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I oddly am looking forward to ripping all this abomination out. Im going to need a bunch of stuff though - cpo, control panel harness, fan and brackets, a whole back door, a 25 inch monitor, power supply. Im sure ill encounter more along the way.

If anyone has KI parts, it looks like I'm buying.
 

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I picked up a clean (art-wise) cabinet that will need a lot of love to get bring it back to its former self. I didnt need another project cabinet on top of my other project cabinets, nor do I have the space right now, but it was too good of a deal to pass up.

View attachment 860119
The monitor is a 20 inch flat screen that looks ridiculous, half-assed mashed into the cabinet.
View attachment 860120
It used to have a computer set up screwed into the right side of the cabinet, with a ton of games on two hard drives.
View attachment 860121
It died at some point, so the owner put in a raspberry pi.
View attachment 860123
Of course, the control panel harness has been cut, because that is easier than unplugging everything. Those are easy to fine, right?
View attachment 860124
A lot is going on with the control panel...
View attachment 860125
A bonus though, the original board and hard drive still lives among the iterations of this cabinets life!
View attachment 860126
I oddly am looking forward to ripping all this abomination out. Im going to need a bunch of stuff though - cpo, control panel harness, fan and brackets, a whole back door, a 25 inch monitor, power supply. Im sure ill encounter more along the way.

If anyone has KI parts, it looks like I'm buying.
all your art needs: @boostin4hp XLArcade
 
Ive been stripping the cabinet and wants to verify that these two wire are random junk.

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Also, is the Killer Instinct power switch really this red switch and not the standard metal stick switch?

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Edit: also curious, was the back door of the cabinet made of particle board or plywood?
 
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This wiring does not belong in a 90's midway cabinet and i don't know what it belongs to.
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This is from an 80's midway MCR era game like Pac-man, Wizard of wor etc.
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The power switch is original. The AC Wiring for the 90s era cabinets follows the Williams color scheme. Purple and Purple with Yellow stripe for AC Power. I do believe i have the wiring that leads to the marquee light laying around but i do not have the harness that meets the power switch.
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Thanks for the feedback. I'd be happy to purchase the marquee light harness if you have it. In total, four harnesses were cut:

- control panel harness
- monitor power harness
- marquee power harness
- monitor sync harness

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For other things on the list, there is a control panel, which has 4 of the pem studs ripped out. The control panel was held on by large wood screws drilled in through the piano hinge and into the control panel wood. I'm currently considering trying to restud the metal control panel, but not confident it would work. It costs $5 to try though, and worth a shot since these do not seem easy to find.

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The coin mechanism and cash plate are corroded as hell. Im going to take them off and clean it up, but replacing may be better.

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I also need the brackets, screws, nuts, amd screen for fabricating a new back door, and the metal door bracket that goes on the cabinet side.

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Keep in mind that many of the later gen Midway cabinets had a number of splices on the AC line. This was their lazy way of getting power to the upper half of the cabinet, in particular, the marquee. They used this style splice connector. There were also 3 revisions of the florescent light used on these cabinets. As for AC power to the monitor, IIRC, some games ran a standard 3-pin molex to the general area of the monitor. Then a separate connector was put in place depending on the monitor used. The later Midway racing titles even came with an additional 3-pin amp to 2 pin molex zip tied and just left hanging off the harness regardless if it was used or not.

I believe i still have the following items (i can double check when i get back home):
JAMMA Harness - it's missing the breakout that connects directly to the buttons and joystick. otherwise its intact.
Random AC wires
Control panel studs (i'd have to press them off of a swiss cheese panel)
 
Im in the same situation as you.
I bought 4 cabs for a very good price. One of them was a marvel vs capcom in a midway cab which was painted all black.

One of my favorite cabs is KI, I had one before also KI2 And regret selling it. Anyways, didnt think much of it cause I was busy with the other 3 until one day I decided to by citrus strip and did a section and to my avail it was KI!!!!!!!!!!!! IT was surreal. It didn't come with pcb, cause marvel was in it, but i ended up buying that later. Luckily the cab was in a very good condition, so dont have to worry about rust. Still working on restoring some odds and ends but nothing major.

Anyways congratulations on your find its a beautiful cab!!
 
Some of these parts that may be of interest to you. First are the AC lines. One of them is approximately 6 ft long and has a 4-pin molex. The second one is only about a foot long and has a 3-pin molex. I believe these go to the marquee. As I mentioned earlier there are a few revisions of the fluorescent light so you'll have to check on that.

Additionally I found a spare monitor breakout cable with a k7000 connector. Last but not least I did find the Jamma hardest I mentioned earlier.

The AC cables and the monitor cable are free. All I ask is that you pay for flat rate shipping ( it's easier for me). As for the jamma harness I would have to ask for something for it.

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Some of these parts that may be of interest to you. First are the AC lines. One of them is approximately 6 ft long and has a 4-pin molex. The second one is only about a foot long and has a 3-pin molex. I believe these go to the marquee. As I mentioned earlier there are a few revisions of the fluorescent light so you'll have to check on that.

Additionally I found a spare monitor breakout cable with a k7000 connector. Last but not least I did find the Jamma hardest I mentioned earlier.

The AC cables and the monitor cable are free. All I ask is that you pay for flat rate shipping ( it's easier for me). As for the jamma harness I would have to ask for something for it.
That is very generous - I'll take you up on your offer. I'll send you a DM. 🙏
 
If you are looking for a fan replacement for the pcb, I ended up getting this one:


If you dont have the fan brackets I think someone out there has 3d prints or maybe make something yourself.

Thanks for this! I'm still not sure if I want to go for an original setup or try one of these slick PCB cases where I can mount a fan directly over the CPU (https://github.com/emilianoarlettaz/arcade-pcb-case?tab=readme-ov-file).

killer_instinct_case.jpg

I figure I could get it made when I get the CPO plexi cut.
 
This rusty coin mech is a pain. Trying to dissolve off all the bolts and metal parts with 50/50 mix acetic acid/water works, but it takes off all the zinc plating and the leaves the hardware dull and not shiney (and it will just slowly oxidize). Its better than all that soda corrosion though. I put the parts in a sonicator to help loosen everything as it dissolves off.

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The black bolts were no longer black, and were bare grey metal. Since I performed this in my lab, I made black oxide solution (7 parts NaOH, to 1.5 parts NaNO2, to 1.5 parts NaNO3, by weight) and heated the solution to 140 C. The bolts blackened nicely in this solution. *If you make this and go higher than 145 C you'll start to get red oxide formation.*

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I realized I really dont want to try and salvage the coin mechanism hardware and just get some replacements, if anyone has a lead.

Also, what is this plate called? Its pitted to shit from years of hosting a Coca-Cola spill and I would rather replace it, but I'm lacking the correct search term for it (coin counter plate/bracket brings up nothing).

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I need to know more about this spinner:
That janky ass thing... they drilled a hole through the metal of the control panel to have a knob on the joystick/button side. What you see in that picture is a white goo wafer with screws embedded around its circumference. Sticking out a bit further is a little black gear. It was likely used to navigate some list of games in some menu, though I'm not sure how.

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It pissed me off when I was cleaning all this up. I scavenged the screws out of it and trashed it immediately, so no better pictures.
 
Thanks for this! I'm still not sure if I want to go for an original setup or try one of these slick PCB cases where I can mount a fan directly over the CPU (https://github.com/emilianoarlettaz/arcade-pcb-case?tab=readme-ov-file).

View attachment 862184

I figure I could get it made when I get the CPO plexi cut.

I was actually looking at that, at first I thought it was something I could just buy and be done. So, for now I went with original setup with fan blowing onto pcb.
 
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