I got TZ from the same guy I got Rescue 911 from. TZ is still my favorite pinball of all time. I first played TZ in an arcade, and every other day I'd go there and pump tokens into it. I made sure the seller knew how important getting a good TZ was to me, and he didn't disappoint.
Well, I was disappointed at first, but that was because TZ needed more work done to it than any of my other machines. I was still happy however, because everything that needed done involved generic parts, all the TZ specific stuff was in fine shape.
The first problem was with the legs, not only were they covered with rust (practically all of my other machines have rusty legs, but rusty legs weren't good enough for my TZ), but one had so much rust on it that no amount of WD-40 or Coke would free up the leg leveler. But only one was stuck, so I was able to adjust the other three to make it level.
The second problem is that there was half of a leg bolt broken off inside the machine. Luckily there were three places for the bolts so you could adjust the height of the machine, so I was able to put them on in the "short" position.
Being slumped over the machine for hours on end was giving me a neck ache though, so I ordered a new leg bolt plate from Marco, along with four new chrome legs.
Replacing the leg bolt plate was easier than I thought. It's held in by about 9 small screws. Just take those out, replace the plate, then put them back in.
 Another problem my machine had was that when the ball release ejected a ball,
it would normally rebound off the wall and fall back into the ball
release. Usually it bounced back before the other balls shifted over, so
it would just keep firing until one finally fell out. But occasionally the
other balls would be half shifted before the ball bounced back, so the machine
wouldn't realize the ball didn't fall out. I fixed this by applying a
layer of foam feet from Radio Shack to the wall, then covering it with electrical tape.
It doesn't look too great, but it was a cheap & easy fix. |
 I also experienced problems with the skill shot. If you shot the ball
just right, it would get stuck in the ridge where the switches are and just lay
there against the gate. It doesn't happen very often, but since I play it
on a regular basis, it was happening enough to be annoying. I fixed this
problem with my favorite tool: toothpicks! I tried using some
ceramic enamel I got from a local craft store to narrow the ridge that was
catching the ball, but after my first attempt I decided I'd probably ruin the
machine before I got it fixed, since the enamel just ran down the
playfield. (The particular enamel I was using is more like liquid latex
than anything else, and it's very easy to pull off). I made two triangles
out of toothpicks and ran them down the outside wall of the skill shot.
That's all that was needed to keep the ball from getting stuck in the
through. I then covered them with electrical tape, witch almost
exactly matched the rail paint. The only problem this fix caused was
pushing the ball into the rubber ring on the left. I fixed that by just
taking off the rubber ring. Make sure the toothpick triangles start at or
below the ridge. |
Speaking of electrical tape & toothpicks, if you're tired of the rocket always hitting the Greed target instead of the Hitchhiker, break off a small piece of toothpick and attach it (via electrical tape) to the top wall of the rocket kicker. This will force the pinball down against the bottom wall and the rocket will hit the hitchhiker every time.
While the clock doesn't actually affect game play, it's still a neat thing to have working. Mine worked except it was really loud, and the 12 o'clock opto would register a break when the clock was in slow mode. I took the clock completely apart and cleaned all the gears and everything, then I sprayed some powdered graphite around to take care of the noise. I found a web page about the clock optos, and one of the comments he made was that he took the plastic cover off the optos. So I took the plastic cover off my optos and then I could bend the 12 o'clock transmitter back in place so the contact wouldn't break because of the vibration in slow mode. And he was right, the clock does look better with the opto covers off. Unfortunately, it was a temporary fix, and I eventually had to replace the opto. Luckily marco sells them.
I also went ahead and installed the diodes on the clock PCB so I could get the lights working. Do NOT put lights in the clock without installing diodes and drilling holes first!
The problem that gave me the most grief was that the magnet on the right side of the spiral was too low. When the magnet released the ball, it would just roll to edge of the magnet and get stuck on the lip where the playfield started. I've had this machine for a while now, and I can tell the magnets are going to be a constant source of grief, given the fact that I still play the game an hour or so a day. When the magnets get too low, just take the magnet off and either attach it through different holes, or fill the existing holes with liquid wood and then reattach. Eventually you'll notice little groves in the bolts from wear. I just swapped bolts, putting the left one on the right side and vice-versa. Since they're mounted at different angles, the groves don't cause a problem anymore. You can also fix the problem by just creating new holes for the screws. I chose my method because I want to minimize the number of holes as much as possible.
Then it started rebooting when both flippers were hit at the same time. Of course, one of the bridge rectifiers went bad. After seeing the damage I did to the clock PCB putting in the diodes, I decided to take the power board to the local arcade vendor and have him replace it. $75 later, TZ was working fine. I can see I'm going to have to learn how to solder on PCBs if I want to keep my pinball machines.
While TZ was out of commission, I decided to work on the slot machine. I've had constant problems with the slot greed target getting bent, and last month the plastic broke because the slot scoop had broken. Both of these are like Florida termites, either you've already had it, or you'll have it in the future, so do yourself a favor and fix it now.
 There's a couple of ways to fix the greed target, one is by replacing the
target with a different style, either from Happ or one of the other target
modifications. But if you're cheap like me, you'll just cut a piece of
wire coat hanger, wrap one end around the screw in the back of the slot area,
and brace the other end against the slot target. I found out how to do
that on some web page, but unfortunately I forget where. |
 When the slot scoop breaks the two choices are to replace it or re-weld it
together. I couldn't find a replacement, and welding was out of the
question, so I just cut another piece of wire from the coat hanger and built a
brace for the scoop that I wedged between the scoop and it's opening in the
playfield. How you bend it doesn't matter. All that matters is that
it will fit behind the scoop and won't fall through the opening. [Ed note:
Marco now sells replacement slot
scoops] |
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I decided to make one that I could anchor to the brace for the greed target. |
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You'll note in the picture above that while one end of the scoop brace is wrapped around the greed brace, the other end of the scoop brace is resting on playfield, with the majority of it between the scoop and opening. Also note this picture was taken before I attached the screw. Make sure the greed brace is BELOW the target rivet. Any higher, and the greed brace will creep it's way up until it's above the target altogether. Also, when you replace the plastic cover, don't tighten it all the way up. Leave enough room for it to wiggle to help prevent breakage. |
Pinball Pro sells a couple of add-ons for TZ that I bought:
 Gumball Kit: Just a bag of small colored balls to put in the
sides of the gumball machine to make it look like there's gumballs in the
sides. Kind of neat, but it nearly killed me having to force-feed them
into the sides of the gumball machine since the balls are wider than the plastic
opening. Don't worry though, everybody says the same thing
regardless of where they bought their gumballs. |
 Piano: This is the best thing I got from them. It's just a
little plastic piano that you install at the piano opening. Now when new
people play this game, they can actually spot the piano shot. Note that
installing it is a bear, simply because the piano covers the screw that holds
the whole clock assembly in place, so you have to take the clock off the
bracket, remove the lights, reattach the bracket, then put on the piano &
lights on, then figure out some way to get those über-long screws through the
BtP ramp into the bracket and clock. Make sure you have a pair of needle
nose pliers handy. Definitely worth the money & frustration, in my opinion.
Note this model has a music reel, like the one on the playfield. Some
others have sheet music or nothing at all. From what I've seen, other
piano mods won't be any easier to install. |
  Door
Flashers: You'll note the manual mentions flashers under
the "Gum" and "Ball" door panels. This is just a wire
and two lamps that you attach to the door panel PCB, then plug it in to left
& right ramp flashers. Installs in about 5 seconds, no tools
required. Neat lighting effect. You could probably save $30 by just
buying the parts from Marco and building one yourself. |
| Gumball Sparkle Kit: Buyer Beware!
If I didn't decide to experiment and see what I could do on my own, I would
have returned this. The premise is sound
enough, put four little lights in the dark gumball machine so that it sparkles
while the flash stack is going off. Unfortunately, they expect you to be
able to perform miracles, such as running EIGHT (8) 16 gage (maybe even 14
gauge) wires through the
ball entry ramp of the gumball machine, and still have pinballs able to go
through. It just don't work like that. They say to tie all eight of
them to the left side of the ramp. I have no idea what they were smoking
when they wrote the instructions. The best I could do was run two wires
through on each side, and then the pinballs would still get in the gumball
machine about 80% of the time, but I had to leave the other 4 wires (2 lights)
just hanging around outside the gumball machine. And speaking of
instructions, they want you to simply run their wire along with all the other
wires under the Power Field and down through that hole. The first problem
is that there isn't enough room for their double-insulated 4-stack of 16 gage wires under the power field.
The second problem is that the plug is too big to go thorough anyway, so I'd have
to remove the power field to run the cable. I don't think so!
I love their Piano, the Door Flashers are neat and fit the game like a glove, the Gumball Kit is probably the exact same as everyone else sells, but that Gumball Sparkle Kit is for the birds. I haven't bought their speaker upgrade kit yet, but I've heard it rocks. |
I also just stumbled upon the Twilight Zone Mod FAQ so I'm sure I'll be spending more money here shortly.
None.
So here's what I ended up doing: I chopped the plug and the
bulbs off, threw away the obnoxious 16 gage wire they used, put in a diode, plugged
it into the "load gumball when lit" sign (which luckily used the
same connecter type as the flash stack), ran 22 gage wire up
to the left of the gumball machine where the flash lamp wires were, and attached
two lights to it in the gumball machine. So now, the gumball machine
flashes when you can load a gumball. Someone else out there sells a kit
specifically for that, but I haven't been able to find his web page.