u/SpikeyRacer

Had my 97 repainted a few months ago and have looking for a headliner for a long time to finish the interior. I was helping a friend pull some parts at the salvage yard, and lo and behold, there was a Hardbody a few rows away. I was shocked when I saw not only a headliner, but it was in really decent shape, and got it for $20, which my friend paid for the help. It was the wrong color so I sprayed it with SEM fabric paint, and it came out really nice 👍. The only thing that kinda sucks is the visors, mine were shot, and the only ones I could find were blue, but whatever. It’s a great truck, I’ve had it for 6 years, and it’s my daily driver, they’re such great little trucks !

The good: C4s are really affordable, and there’s a ton of parts still available and theres a ton of how to maintenance out there. They’re a blast to drive and look and sound good too.

The not so good: they’re between 30 and 40 years old, and they have 1980s-90s GM build quality, which wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t great either. I was a mechanic at a Chevy dealership in the late 80s early 90s, and we saw some things….

The bad (though really not “bad”): even a well shopped and maintained C4 is going to break, whether it leaves you stranded, stuck in the driveway, or you limp it home, it’s gonna happen.

I bought mine 3 years ago and pretty much had to fix everything on it (rebuild engine, wipers, weather stripping, digital dash, complete brake overhaul, new tires, fuel pump, every sensor on the engine, fuel injectors, and the list goes on. It’s been a great car, but things happened today which inspired me to type this post.

Overall, these cars like a really good battery, clean fuel (I use ethanol free), and like to be driven, the more they sit, the worse they seem to get. I live in Florida and though my C4 has excellent AC, it’s still to damn hot to take it for a beach cruise in stop and go traffic, so it sits a bit more between June - September. I took it out today after it sat for 2 weeks and the digital dash is acting up (had it fully rebuilt at Batee a couple years ago) and the power brake booster took a crap. So now I have to wrench on it again next weekend to replace the booster and contact Brian at Batee and most likely send the digital dash pod out again (it happens).

So keep in mind no matter how clean and low mileage a C4 might be, it’s a old metal, fiberglass and plastic car that will most likely require a new owner to have some tools, and either have knowledge in how to fix cars or be willing to learn how to fix it. Also, there will be things you will have to fix more than once as well, parts these days suck for the most part, so be prepared for that as well.

God dammit. I’ve had this game for almost 3 months and I cannot make that shot. The only way is off the mini flipper and I can either hit the East Beach spinner (very cool btw I love the spinner) or I end up hitting the drop targets. Is there a trick I don’t know about ? Or do I just suck ?

All of us old pin guys, that’s been around for a while, know this….make room for just one more. I decided to give up my office space for “just one more”. I’ve had my Strike Zone for 30 years, and got JAWS a couple months ago. Going to make room for one more, thinking of either Foo Fighter, or Rush.

I noticed on multiball the machine was kicking for a lost ball a couple of times. Took me a while to find the lost ball. Very surprising where the ball was. How it got way back there I can only guess, obviously a crazy multiball shot. Still, never seen a JAWS do that…

Anyone have this issue or know what this is ? It cleaned up okay, almost like a white powder, but there’s still wear marks on the black edge “blade” that pushes the boat up and wear on the underside of the boat platform too. Any suggestions to fix this ?

I think we know the answer, but…..the 240 will hang with a 944

97 Hardbody and 91 240sx, love them both

I like how the American flag is always lit, and the playfield colors go red-white- and blue ! Pretty neat how the game is timed too, I like it 👍

EDIT: 500 mil. Whew, what a ride this machine has been, I hit 400m three times a few weeks ago and never got close until today. I caught my first shark last week, and today I almost landed two, and how in the hell does anyone land all 5 sharks ? Holy shit ! It must take at least 30 minutes to accomplish that. Love this game, I can see why its very popular 👍

but I guess I had it on auto update, oh well. I’m ot upset, though wish I would’ve known my machine got updated, kinda wanted to wait to see what others thought about it, but the Cutting Room Floor music is pretty cool 👍

I bought a slightly used JAWS prem a few weeks ago, when purchased it had less than 250 plays, been playing fine, probably have close to a 1000 plays now. Though during a multiball it has sorta locked up when the last ball has drained. It will go through the “find ball” sequence, and found a ball was “stuck” right up against the metal on the right drain lane, shook it and all good. Then one time after a multi ball, 3 balls got stuck together and it jammed up again right under the apron. Is this a fluke ? Or are the balls starting to magnifie ?

Anyone that knows a Hardbody, a replacement 3rd brake light on a Hardbody is pretty hard to find, the only option I could find is to modify to a new Frontier 3rd light. If you want to go this route here are a few things I found. First thing is the new Frontier light mounting screw holes line up perfectly, but that’s about it.

First thing is the power plug is different, so go to a salvage yard and find a Frontier and clip the plug to the 3rd light and leave a few inches of wire to splice it.

Second thing is you need to do is file down the the outer “flanges” on the new brake light, if you don’t, it won’t mount flush to the cab.

Third thing, and this is where it get to be a bitch, the Frontier 3rd light power plug is in a different spot than the original Hardbody, so you need to center the new light and mark where the new power source is going. I used a Sharpie and drilled the hole with a step bit, and since I have no headliner yet I used a 3/8” drill bit and finished drilling it through the outer cab above the rear window and into the inner structure. This is important, because you need to have enough clearance for the wiring harness plug and the outlet that sticks out on the back of the Frontier light.

Fourth, fish the wires out and splice the Frontier plug from the junkyard (red to red/ black to black), plug into the new 3rd light and check it works, and it will !

It looks so nice, and the new light has a huge gasket that will seat against the outer cab and shouldn’t leak.

Balls eaton ? 😆 I love this game !

For some reason my cat loves to lay on Jaws, but leaves my other pin alone, so I got a cheapo blanket from Amazon, looks and fits better than I thought. Hopefully this keeps the little kitty paw prints off of it now.

but I love it !

I’ve had my prem game for one week, and I think my pop bumper isn’t right though, it doesn’t trigger on the skill shot unless you give it a good bump when the ball comes back down and hits it. I played another JAWS in the wild, it was a pro, and the bumper seems to have a lot more sensitivity on the skill shot. The pro bumper also seems to have a lot more action than mine. I opened up my machine and when I pushed the bumper apron with my finger, the contacts seem to be make contact correctly. Im an old EM guy, and I want to “adjust” the contacts, but since it’s so new, I’m afraid to do anything to it yet. Is there a settling in the program that might make it more sensitive ?

Is there a way to just award 1 ball save per ball play ? Seems like if you don’t hit anything it will award up to 5 ball saves ? I don’t like this feature, it’s like having up to 15 plays on a 3 ball game. I’ve been through the settings and can’t find anything about Ball Saved. I saw something on line out Freeze Time, but can’t find that in the menu either. Thanks 🙏

My cat is jealous of the game so she it trying to get my attention lol. Just picked up this game a few days ago and we have been playing it all weekend. Starting to figure out some of the sequences to get into multi ball and feeding frenzy, and how to close beaches and bring in the shark. What a great game !