# Johnny Mnemonic Pinball Restoration: Episode 8

**Source:** Cary Hardy  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2021-12-01  
**Duration:** 10m 25s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Hy5zJp4k4

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## Analysis

Cary Hardy continues restoration of a Johnny Mnemonic pinball machine, focusing on backside playfield rebuild. The episode covers cleaning components via ultrasonic cleaner, installing T-nuts and pop bumpers using specialized tools from Titan Pinball, receiving a parts package from Marco Specialties, and disassembling/cleaning/reassembling various mechanisms including an up-kicker target assembly. Emphasis throughout on methodical cleaning, parts sourcing, and proper reassembly techniques.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Ultrasonic cleaner with distilled water and specialized solution can effectively clean heavily soiled pinball parts in 280-second cycles — _Speaker demonstrated cleaning dirty parts, showed before/after results, confirmed multiple cycles improved cleanliness_
- [HIGH] Hollow-ended nut drivers from Titan Pinball enable screw-pull method for installing T-nuts without hammering — _Speaker showed tool in use, demonstrated how it secures and pulls components into proper position_
- [HIGH] Marco Specialties provided pop bumper rebuilding components and specialty bulb sockets for this restoration — _Speaker opened package on camera, identified contents_
- [HIGH] The playfield showed significant cosmetic damage from age and play but responded well to cleaning/polishing — _Speaker showed cleaned components with improved sheen, noted regret about not capturing before footage_

### Notable Quotes

> "I'm not a big fan of hammering, so I'm going to be putting in the actual components on the backside just to use so I can screw and pull this rod in"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~3:20
> _Describes preferred installation methodology avoiding impact damage_

> "How do you put a pinball machine back together one piece at a time but that's not before you take everything apart get it all nice and cleaned up and then put it back together"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~6:00
> _Articulates the restoration philosophy of complete disassembly and methodical cleaning_

> "I really wish i would have taken some before footage of what this thing used to look like...I thought by current games took some hits but this one definitely has taken some hits throughout the ages"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~5:45
> _Notes extent of damage/aging on components, regrets lack of before documentation_

> "I don't think the kind of quality of water will make a difference. I just wanted the extra clean water to make sure that my parts get extra clean because my city water is hardly good enough for that."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~14:00
> _Explains reasoning for using distilled water in ultrasonic cleaning process_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Cary Hardy | person | Video creator/host performing Johnny Mnemonic pinball restoration |
| Johnny Mnemonic | game | Pinball machine being restored across episode series |
| Marco Specialties | company | Pinball parts supplier providing pop bumper components and specialty sockets for restoration |
| Titan Pinball | company | Supplier of specialty nut drivers and hollow-ended tools used in installation process |
| Johnny Mnemonic (1992 film) | product | IP theme for the pinball machine being restored |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Playfield component cleaning and restoration techniques, Pop bumper rebuild and installation, Ultrasonic cleaning methodology, T-nut installation without impact tools
- **Secondary:** Aftermarket parts sourcing (Marco Specialties, Titan Pinball), Disassembly and reassembly workflow

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Speaker expresses satisfaction with cleaning results and mechanical progress; mild frustration about lack of before footage and occasional confusion about mechanism identification, but overall optimistic about restoration trajectory

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Marco Specialties actively supporting restoration community through targeted component packages and specialty parts availability (confidence: high) — Speaker received Marco Specialties parts package containing pop bumper rebuild components and bulb sockets specifically for restoration work
- **[product_strategy]** Specialty hollow-ended nut drivers (sourced from Titan Pinball) enable non-impact installation method for T-nuts and pop bumper components (confidence: high) — Speaker demonstrates screw-pull technique as alternative to hammering; identifies Titan Pinball as supplier of these specialized tools
- **[technology_signal]** Use of ultrasonic cleaner as standard restoration tool with specific solution protocol for heavily soiled pinball components (confidence: high) — Speaker demonstrates ultrasonic cleaning process as established methodology with multiple 280-second cycles and documented results

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## Transcript

Hit me! Let's start rebuilding the backside shall we? Alright, bag of goodies, this is our first bag to start with and this is going to have all of our parts that basically stand on the play field like so and hold your wire forms that go throughout the play field. Now these are dirty so I'm going to pull all these out and we're going to set them into the ultrasonic over here and see if we can get them all cleaned up. Got it heating up right now. So this is what they look like after just 280 seconds inside of this right here. Starting to get a little warmer in here so that's good. I think I'm going to do it for another 280 seconds just to make sure we get it all even though these look pretty darn good we're going to do it to another 280 just to picture and there they are just by letting them sit into the ultrasonic right there got a little bit of stuff on the side right here that'll probably wipe right off other than that though they look pretty darn good all right so So all the T-nuts are installed on this board now. Now I'm just working on getting these installed for the pop bumpers. So they're pushed in as far as they can go until it's going to require a great deal of force to get these into the wood. Now once again, I'm not a big fan of hammering, so I'm going to be putting in the actual components on the backside just to use so I can screw and pull this rod in so let's do that all right so let me show you what I'm doing I've got basically this screws in just enough to hold it up up and snug in the playfield and I've got these hollow ended nut drivers and get these from Titan pinball and so I kind of show you what it looks like whenever I start tightening this screw in right here here just pulls that thing all the way down into its proper position there we go and just got rinse and repeat got my first package in from good old Marco specialties gonna open this box up it should contain all my pop bumper rebuilding stuff and I forgot there's a bunch of little small stuff that's gonna be in here I've got some new bulb sockets and everything that is gonna be going on to the play field and but mainly my main focus is to rebuild entirely new well not entirely new but majority of it new pop bumpers so let's get this open reassembly is still underway this is the times like these i really wish i would have taken some before footage of what this thing used to look like i thought by current games took some hits but this one if i can get the lighting just ride you can see where this one definitely has taken some hits throughout the ages but i was able to clean it up pretty damn good where it's got a nice little sheen on it so damn it really should have taken some before footage of that one to give you a really good before and after but it cleaned up very nice a lot better than i thought it would because that stuff was pretty deep in there well it's not fun doing all the sanding how do you put a pinball machine back together one piece at a time but that's not before you take everything apart get it all nice and cleaned up and then put it back together so this is what i'm working with now this is the up kicker or the buck rather that's going to be launching the ball into the hand at least i believe that's what this is uh i could be completely wrong no this is just the uh what gets the damn target. I can't even think. This is what shoots the target back up and down. So yeah my bad The up kicker will be next I believe But this is the mech I working with here I got a new target This one may not need it but I gonna go ahead and put a new one on there anyway I think it just a couple of bucks So I was like why not go ahead and grab that while I'm at it, but I'm gonna be taking this whole thing apart New coil wrapped obviously and getting everything all cleaned up It looks like they've got already a little bit of lubrication on this. So then I'll apply some new silicon on there as well. But I think it'd use a good little sprucing up and that's what we're going to do now. Alright, so here is the mechanism all taken apart into different pieces and I've already run it through the ultrasonic and I've also given it a nice little polish up. I'm not going for mirror finish here, but definitely got all the dirt. and built up and grime and everything off of these pieces so definitely looks a lot better so far all the hardware is right there and there's the new target and now just need to reassemble oh oh yeah i've got the new coil wraps on there and stuff all right let's do the reassembly now and here we have the finished product all nice and clean every little piece has been disassembled cleaned reassembled and put back together so pretty I could go up a little bit right there but uh it's very responsive all I need to do now is adjust this switch right here to make sure it clicks whenever that switch goes down so that's adjustable right there so gonna adjust that and then it'll be ready to mount to the playfield Thanks for watching you want to know what i use for my ultrasonic cleaner i use this and good old distilled water. I don't think the kind of quality of water will make a difference. I just wanted the extra clean water to make sure that my parts get extra clean because my city water is hardly good enough for that. So I might have to use filtered. But anyways, what I do here, pour in, let's see here, basically enough to fully cover the bottom portion of that right there and then I dilute it the rest of it with water that's all it takes Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: ac23db22-1de1-48b3-95cd-3d4708c02560*