Here's a quick update on the progress of the Rocky. This update is a little behind, as I've taken some time off the restoration to rest my back. I did finish the work prior to my little "accident"
A better picture of the Legs. I took this photo during the day, so the flash would not make the legs appear to be dark. The shine is really nice in this photo, and it is also a good indication of what the front of the game will look like when the rest of it is finished !
Boards
The "Fun Part"... The boards were really in very good condition, but there were some modifications that I did not like. The +5 and GND were common to the driver, CPU and Power Supply boards - but this wouls not address the inherent grounding problem that plagued system 1 and system 80 games. Although the game did work fine when I got it (not resetting etc), I wanted to make sure the game was upgraded correctly. To do this, the boards must be tied to a common ground - which for a system 80 - is the grounding strip on the transformer board in the lower cabinet. A wire is soldered onto that strip, and then routed through the body and head and terminated on the power supply mounting rail. From the PSU mounting rail, we run short lengths of wire to each grounding track on the boardset. CPU, Driver, Sound etc...
The Power Supply has had ALL pins replaced, but I kept the old housings are they were good. I upgraded the power supply as per Clays recommendations and it is ready to be tested. All the other boards were fine. CPU board had NO corrosion, but I replaced the wiring to the battery holder as it was too thick for that application. The CPU board had a nasty "Cheap" connector installed that was just... well... I didn't like it - so I replaced it with the proper housing and re pinned it ;
No repairs were required for any of the boards - except the removal of the "wiring mod" for +5 and Ground..
So here is a picture of the finished board set on its baseboard.. A LOT better than what I started with and it should be rock solid once I fire it up !
Next update will be next week - I hope !! SOOOO CLOSE
