Spy Hunter project done...tech tips too!

ifkz

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In May of 2009 Modessitt helped me grab a project Spy Hunter cab for a pretty fair price. When I got there the speakers had an awful pop to them with the insert quarter sound, the weapons van in range light, the initials screen, and so on. Yesterday I finally put this issue to rest with the addition of new 6" x 9" speakers from Bob Roberts. Thanks Bob! His new ones are 8 Ohm, which is fine for my switcher powered cab (I don't mind the hum, my Asteriods Deluxe has it too). My old ones tested good with my meter, but I guess they couldn't handle whatever the switcher was doing to the power. So if anyone has a similar issue, maybe this post will help! Oh, and wiring a 12V regulator between the switcher and power supply did no real good either.

The cab also had a pretty poorly done tube swap sometime during it's life. Modessitt helped me sort that out too by offering the simple suggestion to use refrigerator magnets on the sides of the frame to eliminate the magnetic interferance from the tube having the wrong rings installed. It's still not a perfect monitor, but 1000x better than when I started this project.

My Upgrades:
1. WG4900 capkit.
2. Both large suitcase power supply caps.
3. Lithium power board upgrade.
4. New inkjet sideart.
5. New power cord.
6. A JAMMA PCB holder (much better than the wood one Midway used).
7. Several new ground wires internally.
8. MCRIII board cap kit.
9. Sealed the marquee with triple thick.
10. Paint, bondo, etc.

Words of caution. The peter gunn background music comes only from the cheap squeak deluxe soundboard seperate from the MCRIII stack. The MCRIII stack generates the sound effects. Never buy untested cheap squeak deluxe boards. A member here let me try three of them and they were all dead and I am still stuck with a $36.65 dead cheap squeak :(

Game resetting? Meter the power at one of the empty EPROM sockets on the MCRIII stack. Get it up to 5.01V. And your game should be happy...unless you need the board stack to be capped or new interconnect cables.

Pedal pot not giving you turbo? Go into test mode and configure the driving pot as instructed. Now go behind your game and loosen the pot. Coin it up and get it to where the car just starts to roll forward. Tighten it down. Unless your pot is really worn, you should have a good range and turbo.

My working grail=worth the trouble!!!! All in all, I give my restored cab a B to B+. It was dropped sometime during it's life, but was shored up with nails near the bottom corners. No big deal, I painted over them and they look fine. This cab is really too heavy and massive to try anything further, and it is really solid.
 
Pics or it didn't happen :)
 

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Nice!

Nice job!
Spy Hunter is one of those classics that I wouldn't mind having myself. One of my friends was a mad man on that thing, he could play forever it seemed.

I never could get the hang of the boats...
 
Congrats on your project's completion!

My $.02: if you have an original gas pedal pot in the game then replace it. You don't want the car creeping forward with your foot off the pedal and you need the high end return from the pot to be around 23h. Less than 22h and you're not getting max speed from the game.

I know you said you don't mind the hum but the linear power boards are almost always your best bet as most people do mind the hum.

And I didn't know that Asteroids Deluxe hummed? Is that because they don't like switchers or is that normal for AD?
 
Pics would be nice

Thanks for the tech tips. I've got one in the garage right now that's about 5th in line. I'd like some pics of your side art paint. I think somebody slapped a quick solid stripe instead of the pattern I see on klov but the pics on klov are pretty blurry.

My tech tip- check for ground before grabbing the wheel on a new aquisition. Mine is missing the left index trigger and gave me a good "buzz" when I tried it. Found the large ground strap for the cpo HANGING loose. Oh well, at least it wasn't 120v......

And yeah, couldn't believe that wooden pcb holder when I saw it. lol.
 
Part of me likes the security of a switcher. Straight linear power supplies in these oldies can kill game boards when they die, switchers won't (or so I've been told).

Asteroids Deluxe was also completely rebuilt by me, but hums. I've kept an original linear board in it and neutered it with the sense mod. A switcher wouldn't work because it generates voltages other than +/- 5V and +12V. It's a ground issue somewhere, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it. :)

Honestly, when the arcade is active, or the game is in play it is not noticeable.
 
Congrats on getting the SH going. It's a great game.

I also use a switching PS in my SH. The buzz is very minimal. I don't really even notice it. It thumps a bit when the Weapons Van button is flashing.

I also had to mess with the gas pedal pot to get turbo. Mine creeps forward when not pressed (which is for <.5 seconds when parked on the side of the road.)

Now I just need to work on increasing my high score :D
 
I found that on the cheap squeak boards many times you just need to replace the two amplifier chips..also just install sockets for them as well. If you can fix them then you could sell them for a profit.
 
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Part of me likes the security of a switcher. Straight linear power supplies in these oldies can kill game boards when they die, switchers won't (or so I've been told).

Asteroids Deluxe was also completely rebuilt by me, but hums. I've kept an original linear board in it and neutered it with the sense mod. A switcher wouldn't work because it generates voltages other than +/- 5V and +12V. It's a ground issue somewhere, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it. :)

Honestly, when the arcade is active, or the game is in play it is not noticeable.

Try disconnecting the power to both of your fluorescent light fixtures and see if the hum goes away. If so, reconnect them one at a time. When it hums, you've found your bad light. Bingo....problem solved. AD shouldn't hum.
 
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