Williams The Getaway: High Speed II (Williams, 1992) Newbie Questions

[newman4ever]

Hi All,

Great forum here with lots of good info. Just bought my first pinball machine, Williams High Speed II Getaway, and planning to shop/restore it myself, or best I can. Will call in a pro if things get out of hand, but want to try it myself for now.

A couple of quick questions for those with more experience than myself:

• I have removed several items from the playfield in order to clean/wax/change out bulbs/rubbers/etc.. I removed both left and right side ramps which had electrical connectors attached below the playfield. Also removed the silver magnetized turbo track at the back of the playfield. My question is, with these items removed, is it safe to power on the machine so I can use testing mode to see which lights/switches are functional? I would assume you could since this would seem logical, but wanted to double check before trying it.
• The cabinet has some damage that needs to be repaired at some point. In order to do this correctly, I would need to remove the playfield from the cabinet (assuming the back box would also need to come off). Is the playfield actually secured to the cabinet in any way, or is it simply a matter of disconnecting any cables which are attached and lifting the playfield out? It seems to move pretty freely inside the cabinet, but wasn't sure if there is something securing it in the cabinet. If anyone has any info regarding procedure for removing the guts from the cabinet, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any info. Looking forward to being an active member in the forums and plan to learn as much as possible about these amazing machines.

 

[newman4ever]

Well... Since nobody seems to know, I'll just give it a shot and see what happens. Will come back and report my findings. Thanks.

 

[spalmer]

As long as you unplugged everything and have no wires shorting together, yes you can power up with those items removed. You might get a few errors at startup but it should be fine. As to your second question, the playfield on that machine I believe slides on a rail and should just lift out. While you have it apart, you might want to go ahead and change your bulbs out for LEDs. A lot less maintenance. Cointaker makes some really nice kits.

 

[newman4ever]

Thanks for the reply Spalmer. I figured it would probably be fine. As to replacing all the lights with LEDs, isn't that a little expensive? I think I saw a kit for like $150, which seemed really high. I'll check out the kits that Cointaker has. Appreciate the help.

Should be an interesting experience doing this restore. I'm sure there will be more questions coming.

 

[spalmer]

It is a little expensive however in my opinion it is worth to. The game is a lot brighter and as you are starting to learn as you disassemble yours, some of the light bulbs are a really big pain to have to get to if they burn out. Cointaker sells complete kits, kits for specific areas (playfield GI, Inserts, backbox) or you can piece one your self. Chris designs all of his bulbs and offers a money back gaurantee. I have bought 1 kit and pieced together 2 others. If you are not happy with the end result, he and Mellisa will work woth you to get you what you want.

If you have any question let me know and I will do my bet to help you. If you get stuck, PM me and I will get you my email address and phone #.