I don't suppose anybody has had any luck hooking up the coin tumbler to mame, it seems to me this would be the main neat thing to have hooked up, it's just a motor that spins the tumbler to dispense the coins when you win or collect your winnings, ideally I will get my cabinet working with the original game boards but if I have to gut it and install a mame machine it would be nice to keep the coin tumbler.
Also I had no idea Australia was so restrictive on who can buy and own old Aristocrat machines, here in New Zealand you can just buy them on trademe, I picked up a White Tiger video slot for $5 the other day, quite pleased with that, apparently the game board is fried, but I haven't had a look at it yet, it might not be.