Whirlwind – Williams (1990)

I had planned for this to be the final update on the Whirlwind repair & service, but before I give my focus to testing the game, there were two more presentation things to look at first. One of the final items to address on Whirlwind is the coin door. I had mentioned in previous updates I was going to look at it, but kept putting it off. No longer though. When dropping the machine off, the owner asked me to give the coin door a face lift. He wanted the rivets removed and the holes filled from the coin entry housing. No problem, can do. I wanted to go a little bit further though and replace the pricing plates with something nicer and also replace the two missing bolts from the coin door.

Whirlwind Pinball Repair
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It’s update time again! Returning with part six of the repair and service I’m performing on a Williams Whirlwind machine. The updates have been fairly regular, which is great as it means progress has been pretty smooth. I’ve had a few hold ups while waiting for parts, but that’s about all. In my last update I finished off servicing the remaining assemblies on the machine. In this update, I’ll focus on getting the remaining bits back onto the playfield to get the game into a playable state! I’m really looking forward to seeing how it performs once the final pieces are cleaned and the playfield is back together. I suspect I will make a few minor switch tweaks around the sling shots and pop bumpers to get them in a sweet spot sensitivity wise – time will tell. To begin this update though, the replacement plastic pieces I ordered from Pinball Center arrived. They have a clear protective layer on top, which is why they look a little dull.

Whirlwind Pinball Repair
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Having a set of pop bumpers on the playfield is almost mandatory for me when looking at pinball machines to play. The designers of Whirlwind must really have loved pop bumpers. Why have just one set on the playfield when you can have two? The only down side to pop bumpers is disassembling them as it cam be fiddly, especially those lamp sockets. The end result though after working on them really improves their performance, along with the presentation of a machine. It also makes them sound great too. The set I did in my previous update came up really nice and now it’s time to rebuild the second set. This update will be covering the final assemblies in the machine I need to look at, all of which are located at the top of the playfield. I’ll be starting first with the pop bumpers though.

Whirlwind Pinball Repair
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Progress on the Whirlwind service has been quite good so far and it’s cleaning up nicely. There have been a few small surprises along the way, but nothing scary or too troublesome. On the bright side, the surprises keep things interesting and is a constant reminder that no two machines are the same. There is always something different to solve, making it a rewarding feeling to work on each machine. I’ll continue to work my way up the playfield in this update, performing some general cleaning and servicing more assemblies along the way. The first one to receive attention in this update is the top right flipper.

Whirlwind Pinball Repair
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Time for another progress update on the Whirlwind repair & service I’m currently carrying out. This time I’m looking at the apron and all the assemblies contained within. I managed to work through this area pretty quickly, which is why this update is so soon after the last one. I forgot to take a photo of the apron before starting, so the one shown below is from the day the machine was dropped off to me (you’ll notice the old flippers, rubber, etc which were taken care of in the last update). The apron itself is in really good condition. The paint is mostly unscratched and no rust showing or paint flaking. There is an old operator sticker that needs to come off on the left side and some old white sticker on the right which also needs to be removed. It’s a bit dirty, but with a clean, I think it’s going to come up really nice.

Whirlwind Pinball Repair
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