Pole Position II restoration

MrGorf

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This is the restoration of my Pole Position II. Obviously non working when purchased, I further complicated things by breaking the neck of the monitor loading it into the van. It had no back door, and I forgot to make sure the monitor was secured. I'll post a little bit each night. These first pictures are how it looked when I first got it home.

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Actually mines all done. I'm just finally getting around to posting the pictures, but that one does look in better shape than what I started with.
 
Part 2

Once I got all the parts out of the cabinet, it was time for some cleaning. Since there was no side art available, a good scrubbing with a magic eraser cleaned it up pretty good. One back corner had some damage and needed to be fixed.

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I used a square as a guide for the router.

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Made the cut with a straight cutting bit using a plunge router.

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Bad piece removed.

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Part 2 continued

A wood chisle squared up the corner pretty good.

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Used a slot cutter for some biscuts to give it some support. Also mounted an additional piece of wood underneath


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Glued the patch in place and let dry overnight.

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Some bondo and sanding and it's ready for paint.

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Part 2 finish

Here is the repair with primer.

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I found a good match for the red but am still looking for the blue.


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I sanded the front and back of the cabinet and gave it a few coats of semi flat black.


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Some new leg levelers, and it's ready to be put back together.
 

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Part 3

Here is the power brick in its original glory.

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This is how to deal with those pesky fuses.

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Stripped everything off and painted with hammered finish gold.

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Bought the Atari rebuild kit from Bob Roberts, along with second big blue. Cleaned all of the wires on the transformer, crimped new molex pins on, and replaced all of the connectors. Here is the brick after re-assembly.

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Ready for another 27 years.

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Part 3 continued

Put the brick back into the cab, and started on the wiring harness. It had some hacks, but overall was in good shape. I cut all of the wire ties off, and basically had an AC harness and a game harness. Cleaned and replaced all of the connectors.

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I like to start at the top and get the marquee in first. Nothing helps keep me going like seeing the lit marquee for the first time. I put a new ballast and starter on the light. Also moved the power switch from the lower back of the game to the top where I can reach it easily.

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Also the game didn't originally have an interlock switch on the back, so I wired one in.

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The fan was shot and needed to be replaced.

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I cleaned and painted the PCB card cage using the same gold hammered finish paint. Here is the cage and new fan mounted in the cab.

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Part 3 finish

The gas pedel assembly had lots of use.

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Cleaned up with a wire wheel and a new coat of paint. Also replaced the pot, pulley, springs, and cable. Not sure what happened to the picture I had of the underside.


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Here is a shot of it back in the cab and ready for operation.

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Rustoleum 'Sail Blue' is a pretty close (not exact, but very close) match to the blue.

Original:
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Sail Blue:
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Original side:

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Sail Blue Side:

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That's coming along nicely. I've never seen a corner, with art, cut out and patched that well.

I'd only recommend that while you have/had the stuff out of the bottom of the cabinet, run a sander over it to get the wood clean, then vac it out. That's going to be a nice game.

Joey
 
Part 4

Time to work on the ARII boards. As expected, they had the usual problems.

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I replaced the burnt resistors and diodes, along with the 3055, all of the electrolytic caps, and the molex connectors.

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One thing to note - I powered up the ARII boards to test them WITHOUT the CPU or videp PCB connected. Good thing, as I had forgotten to put the sense resistor back in one of the ARII boards, and the 5v was reading more like 12v. I would have smoked the board if it had been connected.
 

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Part 4 cont.

The test panel with the volume controls and coin counter originally looked like this.

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I used a wire wheel to remove the old paint. A couple coats of black, clean pots, and new switches, and it's ready to go.

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The cardboard shroud that helped cool the card cage was missing, so a new one had to be made. After much trial and error, I'm pretty happy with the result.

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Part 4 final

The coin door was missing entirely. I bought one from tokenseller, stripped it, and painted it with hammered finish black. I really like how it looks.


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Bought some replacement coin chute/reject buttons from Bob Roberts. They really look great.


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I was even able to save the original coin mech. instructions.


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