Sorry for the delay - it has been BUSY! Mega blog post incoming! Pictures and text ahoy!
The guy arrived at my place around 1:00 PM. It took us nearly an hour to unload his trailer, get my pin out, and put his stuff back in. He was a good dude, but man...That took forever. And it was hot out. I was a sweaty mess, ha.
So after he left (he didn't offer to help assemble the game or anything, which I thought was a bit odd), I decided to unwrap and get the game at least ready to go. I didn't power it on because I really didn't have too much time. I went back to work, finished the day off, and then made my way back home with my friend/coworker. He helped me level the game and get everything setup.
We got a few games in before I noticed that the sub was SUPER insane. As rad as that is, it causes the entire glass to shake. I can apparently get some anti-rattle tape? I'll have to look into that. I ended up unhooking the sub (which I then re-attached but on the LOW setting vs the HIGH setting) - much better. No need for tape, but I'm still going to hunt some down so I can put this bitch on HIGH again.
I played the game with stock everything to get a feel for any tweaks I'd have to make. Since the game DID travel from Florida to Indiana (with stops in NC, PA, NY, MD, OH, KY, etc etc etc), I figured some stuff would need a little bit of tweaking. The Cliffy scoop protector needed to be adjusted, the scoop itself needed to be nudged a bit (when ejecting from the scoop, it would shoot and trigger the right sling 90% of the time, causing launches into the left outlane and a drain), and the tilt sensor needed to be adjusted to be LESS sensitive. I don't do a lot of nudging as it is right now, but when I was doing light shakes, I was getting single/double warnings. Fuuuuuck that. I brought the bob down a little.
I decided to dive right in to mods. I've got a LOT to install over the next few days, so I figured I'd do it now and make it a slow burn. Since the Flynn sign was already installed, I moved onto the easiest first...The first mod I did (not really a MOD, but an alteration) was to change from the CLU translite to the infinitely superior Quorra/Gem translite. Already MUCH better.
Once that was done, I moved on to the Arcade Mod. You'll see in the pics how shitty the OG arcade is. Stern should be ashamed for putting something that bad in the game. I mean, it's SO shitty. The Arcade Mod is INCREDIBLE. At first, I was wary on spending $250 on something as stagnant as that...But the difference is HUGE. If you don't know what it is, it's basically a replacement arcade cabinet over the scoop. It's designed to look exactly like a TRON arcade. It even has a ROM running the original game in attract mode. It's insanely cool. One of the top 3 mods REQUIRED for a TRON (the other 2 being Eli's Ramp and the Flynn sign).
After I did that, I took on the mod I was most worried about - installing slide rails. At some point, Stern decided to cut costs and give all Pro models these shitty pegs instead of the more common rails. They're terrible. Like, if you ONLY know the pegs, you may not realize what's up. But the difference in how easy it is to lift and maneuver the playfield is tremendous.
The thing is, that mod requires you to drill holes on the underside of the playfield. That had me SUPER worried...But I decided to just man up and do it. So many things can go wrong, but if you take your time and plan everything out (and read the directions like, 5 times), it will come together. That mod being done is a HUGE weight of my shoulders...And seriously, it's a MUST have for any Stern game.
That mod finished, I moved on to the last mod for the evening - Hooked Black Pop Bumpers. You can see in the pictures what they are - new pop bumper caps. They have a lot more going for them than the standard caps. The only issue is that the left bumper has screws that are too short. I'll have to run to Lowes tomorrow to pick up longer screws. Once that's done, I'll be set.
This weekend will be the big mod moment - installing Eli's Ramp kit. This mod turns the Pro into [almost] an LE. It's so incredible...I can't wait. You do have to remove ramps, and that's something I've never done. You also drill holes in the ramps...More drilling! But again, if I get started early and take my time, it will pay off!
My coated rails SHOULD be here this week, but if not, it's not a big deal. Really, those will just take the cabinet up a notch (although, the button guards are a big deal). Also, there are NOT mirror blades in this, so I'll need to order a set eventually. TRON is going to get the diva treatment, that's for damned sure.
OK, enough typing! Picture time!
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Right after everything was setup and leveled.
Another full cab "ready to play" shot.
Turns out, the purple wire with the brown is the one you attach to the NEG terminal on the Flipper Fidelity sub. I had to guess...The instructions on the sit say the one with the white line. There...Isn't one. So like I said above, after removing and then reinstating the sub, I managed to figure it out.
Here's the OG cab. Seriously - piece of shit.
Much more rad in person (I just took a random pic of it...should have gotten a sweet one during Light Cycle or something). Lights up, flashes, goes through all games, etc. Really an incredible mod.
So TRON is much more intimidating than X-Men under the playfield. Lots of wires. This is before I installed the service rails. You can see the god awful pegs up top.
Drilling holes was SO scary, haha.
SO much nicer now that these are done. They aren't parallel because a) they don't need to be and b) they can't be because of all the inserts and shit. You really can't explain how much nicer it is to be able to raise and lower the playfield with these. It also allows you to press the playfield back down rather than slam it (when pushing forward to get over the last *hump*). Honestly, Stern needs to stop being stupid and put these on ALL games again.
Here's another shot of the rails. You can see the pegs in the pic (no need to remove them), and you can also see how far back the rails extend. Shaneus will realize how much real estate that is for lifting and moving a playfield. Anyone else who has done any work or owns a machine will also see - it's just SO much nicer.
Here's the pop bumper caps. The left one isn't on due to reasons stated above. They're pretty rad. Also, you can see the level select screen playing on the arcade!
Last two pics! Here's the current setup. I will be adjusting the contents of those shelves soon...
And finally...Here's everything I've currently installed in action! I didn't get the picture with my custom message I set (Welcome program), but I'll do that once I get a ColorDMD and pimp that out.
Also told me he had a Black Rose at one stage but it was such a bitch to work on (machine always got dirty because of the ball troughs underneath getting that electronic dust on it) that he got rid of it. He has the benefit of being into pins before they became popular home items like today, so he said he paid around $1200 for it and got rid of it for $1500 (AUD). Those prices make me weep now 
