Mortal Kombat 2 Restoration!

Jdurg

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Alright, I figured it's time to start this thread. Last year, I went through the process of restoring an old Dynamo HS-5 cab into a SF2:CE cab and learned a LOT about the processes and the hobby. During the course of the restore, I wound up with my SF2:CE board, a Darksoft CPS2 multi-board, and a Darksoft CPS3 multi-board.

In addition, I happened upon a good deal on another favorite of mine; Mortal Kombat 2. Couldn't pass it up so I bought it. Only problem was I had no cab for it. I figured "plans are readily available, I'll make my own." So I got a set of side art and CP art from Rich at ThisOldGame.com, and a bunch of other parts for the cab. After putting together a really nice CP, I realized how futile the endeavor would be. (Ya figure after the HS-5 fiasco I'd finally learn my lesson!)

Shortly before Christmas I saw an auction for an MK2 cab that was painted black and had been converted to a Deer Hunter game. I figured it would be a good one to go after and put in a bid. I won the cab and it will be delivered to me on Tuesday morning. The only real bad thing is the black paint and the control panel. As I already have a control panel, that is no concern. I have replacement artwork if needed, but will try to save the original.

I have the following things I'll need to do:

1) Inspect cabinet for rodents or roaches.
2) Get cabinet inside house.
3) Pull Monitor and see what type it is, order cap-kit and replace caps on chassis as per suggestion from seller.
4) Inspect wiring of cabinet, making note of where fixes might be needed.
5) Attempt to strip black paint off of cabinet and see if original artwork is in good shape, and saveable.
6) If artwork cannot be saved, strip down to wood, apply a super smooth coat of poly to wood, use reproduction artwork.
7) General cleaning and repairing.

Already have a coin door thanks to HotBlue02 as well as some other parts from him. (Told ya I'd eventually get to it! Haha. Thanks again!). I have a complete control panel top that I'll use to replace the butchered original currently in there. The rest of the Control Panel Box will remain original.

Also have tee-molding, Midway security screws, a cut Lexan panel on the way, and a bunch of other odds and ends. Looking forward to starting this up next year and having a second cab in my collection.

Will post a whole bunch of pictures for the whole process. This way I can have it documented for others who are "MK Rookies" like I am.
 
Can't wait to see the progress you make with this!
I just got a MK2 AND a dedicated SF2CE myself in the past two months. Looks like you and I are alike... probably similar in age? i just turned 34, and these two games literally defined my childhood! lol
My SF2 was fully restored by the guy I bought it from and is pretty freaking nice, but my MK2 needs a little love. I'm pretty sure the monitor needs a cap kit, as it has very faint white vertical lines (mostly on the left side of the monitor). They are only visible at certain times and aren't too bad, but I'm pretty sure a cap kit will fix it.
My biggest issue is a slight hum/buzz that you can hear under the music at all times! It wouldn't bother some people, but it drives me fucking nuts! LOL! I think a new power supply will fix it, but i'm not 100% sure.
I already ordered new red IL Eurosticks to replace the ones on my cabinet, as the 1 player joystick was kinda loose.
 
I'll be taking plenty of pictures tomorrow. Arrives in the morning, and if the delivery guys don't bring it inside, it'll have to sit outside for most of the day until some buddies get out of work and help me move it in.

The days of me being able to maneuver a 400+ pound cabinet up three stairs and into the house never existed. lol.
 
The cabinet is here! The delivery guys were AWESOME! Shot the shit with me for a bit and put the cabinet inside the house right into the room where I'll be working on it.

It's in AMAZING shape! I might even be able to use the ORIGINAL CP on there since they managed to NOT butcher it when converting to Deer Hunger. (BTW, have a spare Deer Hunter PCB now if anyone wants it. lol).


Full set of "before" pictures will be shown later. Going to test out some paint removal in a small area to see what artwork is there.
 
Alright. No photographs yet as I need to pull them all off of my phone and put them on my computer, edit them for file size, and upload them, and I'm lazy. Haha.

So I got the cab inside and realized there was no key for the back door. Thankfully, the coin doors had no locks so getting into the cab wasn't a problem.

Inside, there actually was no PCB or power supply. So i'll need to pick up a power supply with -5V on it. At least i don't have to worry about getting rid of the Deer Hunter PCB. heh.

There are parts of the original MK2 harness still in there (I can tell by the wire colors), but it's pretty hacked apart. I'll go through that once I've given everything a wash to test and see what each wire in there is doing. At least the wires up to the speakers/light/power-switch weren't hacked. Neither were the coin door wires.

Sadly, the artwork was not salvageable under the black paint. It was badly faded in the area I tested, and it had also been sanded so there was no saving it. Thankfully I have the side art ready to apply.

After this first day, I need to heavily clean the Monitor (Original Hantarex Polo) and give it a cap kit. I'll need to get me a power supply, a new marquee since the one I bought last year from some place i can't remember is just too big and doesn't fit into the cabinet, test the wiring to see where it all goes, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, and clean, clean, clean, clean.

I will eventually get pictures in here. For now, i'm just admiring my complete CPO now that the Lexan arrived so I could put the buttons and security screws in.
 
Not much of an update, but here's a picture of the cab with the marquee I got from Szabo's Arcade, and the CP that i put together from original parts and boostin4hp's metal and wood panels.

Can't wait to get this one finished. Turns out, the "bad" harness in there is actually in really great shape.

DTEfQlxW4AA3sSA.jpg:large
 
Okay. So what the heck have I been doing to this cab since the last post? Well, the old artwork had to come off as it was damaged and not in great shape. I had a set of side art from This Old Game that I purchased last year and had been awaiting a cabinet to go on.

After much consternation after trying three times to get the front black vinyl on without it creasing horribly, the side art went on relatively easily. A few really tiny bubbles and dust-specks, but honestly, it gives the cabinet some character to it. heh.

Right now, I need to replace the filter caps on the monitor chassis as they were starting to bulge a tiny bit (they'll arrive later this week), re-assemble everything, put the artwork on the control panel if/when that arrives, wire that CP up unless I find a MK2 CP harness for sale, and power it up!

The room it was restored in needs a MASSIVE amount of cleaning. It didn't exactly go by cleanly with the sanding. So far, I'm quite pleased.

DTyD_vCXkAAk5U9.jpg
 
Subscribed.

Greatest fighter of all time. I've seen a thousand MKII restores on KLOV and I hope I see a thousand more! Awesome start man ...

I know you've got the destination in mind, but I can't wait to see where the journey takes you :)
 
Thanks guys. I was REALLY scared when putting the artwork on the second side that somehow the side I already did would get mucked up, but nothing to worry about.

On one side there's an annoying bit of art that isn't fully sticking. I press it down, but then a few moments later the small, 0.5mm wide wrinkle shows up. It really isn't a big deal though. There are some bumps and dips all over the sides but that's not a big concern. The original artwork was pretty thick compared to this replacement, but the end result has me really happy.

I will be going and having quite a few beers now to celebrate this major milestone. I'll seriously try to take more pictures as the journey is indeed the most fun part of it. Got a bunch of pics on my phone that I'll go and load into this thread here once I have settled down. The adrenaline rush from getting where I am right now is wearing off.
 
I hear escapepod would have that art to you in a matter of a few days... how long you been waiting for that CP art?
 
Okay, quick update. All of the artwork except the control panel box from This Old Game has arrived and been installed. Have the CP finally wired up after hacking apart a Gauntlet Dark Legacy wiring harness. (Apparently, MK2 Jamma harnesses and control panel wiring are closely hoarded items that never appear for sale. :( )

Have an NFL Blitz/Showtime Jamma harness coming in that I will only need a few tweaks to in order to have it match up with a dedicated MK2 harness.

The monitor has been fully recapped and I'm now just in re-assembly mode.

I have ZERO clue how the hell I'm going to get that monitor back into the cabinet though. I'm thinking of removing the crossbeam that the remote board attaches to so I can get some free space with my hands on the bottom of the monitor. Having two bad shoulders does not make this easy. Putting the monitor back into my HS-5 cabinet was a breeze compared to this. Just pray I don't neck the monitor when putting it back in.

Pictures will come once the monitor is in and the outside of the cab is basically complete. Then a TON of pictures will come forth. :D
 
I have ZERO clue how the hell I'm going to get that monitor back into the cabinet though. I'm thinking of removing the crossbeam that the remote board attaches to so I can get some free space with my hands on the bottom of the monitor. Having two bad shoulders does not make this easy.


It's hard because the cp area is so deep. I recommend doing the CP top last so you can rest the monitor on top and not worry about scratches. It's not an easy job, try to get a buddy to help.
 
Ha. I had forgotten that I had left this thread hanging. Yeah, I eventually got a buddy to help me lift that thing in there. With two of us, it was actually very easy. Single person, not so much.

While I don't have a ton of pictures, here it is completed. One picture is with the game off and the lights on in my room (Can see my DK cabinet there). The other picture is the cab in the room with the light off and the game on. (You can also see my CPS3 multi-sitting on the table there. Heh).

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