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I've been working on a 280 ZZZAP project for the last few weeks. It has been a lot of fun so far and I learned some new things about the old Black and White monitors along the way. There is a separate thread on my monitor issues. If you want to read up on the monitor issues and how the issues were resolved you can read the details here:


Besides the monitor issues other problems and fixes done so far (At least the ones I remember):

  • Power Supply - Washed, rebuilt with all new capacitors (Including tantalums), potentiometer, diodes, etc. Kept the original 2N3055 since it was good and I don't trust the replacements. Re-installed, adjusted and perfect power now.
  • Main Boards - There were two sets. Washed all the boards multiple times to clean. Replaced the Electrolytic caps and all large Tantaum caps. One IC was installed backwards on a daughter board. Pulled the socketed chips, cleaned the leads, Replaced all the DIP sockets. Found three 14-pin sockets that each had a broken pin between the socket body and PCB which unfortunately I have been seeing more of. Cleaned all the edge connectors and header connectors. Both board sets are now running!
  • Wasn't getting much throttle and found the control pot loose and I think it had jumped a few teeth. I re-adjusted and not can get the car up to about 160 but may need to move it another tooth or too. Should it be able to get to 200?
  • Black light and starter replaced and now blacklight works. Big difference!
  • Replaced drilled out locks. On the back door a screw had been installed to hold the door that knocked loose a small wood piece that the lock was supposed to catch on. Re-glued and clamped that. Now the back door is properly secured again using the new lock. Both the coin door and back door use the same keyed double bitted locks.
There are a couple questions that maybe other 280 ZZZAP owners can help with:

  • When playing the game what is the max speed you can achieve (not asking about score). Should it be able to reach 200? I am only maxing out at 160. If you take your foot off the gas should it drop back to 0 or is there always some throttle by default? I may need to adjust the potentiometer at the pedal some more to get it dialed in correctly.
  • Behind the Marquee there are 4 lamp sockets. What is the correct bulb number to use? Does it take a small #44, #47 bulb or the 12V version? Looking to get the correct ones installed.
The game is now playable and a lot more fun than I expected. I still need to do quite a few things before it is wrapped up:

  • Give the outside a good cleaning, fill one spot on the side that was drilled for some unknown reason, and get my daughter to touch up the cabinet.
  • Carefully clean the two-way mirror. What is safe to use on it? Is windex ok or do I need to worry about damaging the reflective coating?
  • Part of the cardboard dash can off the two-way mirror. Someone did an awful job using a rolled piece of clear yellowed tape. Removed that and got some clear thin double faced tape that I will try after cleaning.
  • Clean the face of the CRT as it looks like it hasn't been cleaned in 40 years.
  • Install the blue gel strip (found in the cabinet) that is for the dash display area.
  • Do some final adjustments on the monitor. Width and will probably be able to turn down the brightness a little once cleaned.
  • In the spring re-paint the coin door and install the new chrome entry slots
  • The pedal will need to come out, sand blasted, and powder coated.
  • The Steering wheel cleaned up but the base may need to be re-chromed at some point.
With the second board set I thought it may be fun to try tweaking the code for an alternative version. Maybe just different text strings to start. It seems that the Braze Multigame for the 8080 based Space Invaders was open sourced so perhaps O could leverage that but have different versions of the driving game in it. That would be longer term but a fun project.
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