This project is not dead!
My workshop is now almost fully set up, though I do still need to decide what my BGA rework solution is going to be. I've been doing a tonne of research for this project, which resulted in some documents that some might find useful.
First is a map of the pins/signals for the 745x chips, as well as the SRAM chips that the schematics specify should be used for the L3 cache. What's that you say? L3 cache in an iMac G4? Oh yes! Turns out the 820-1257 board is wired up for an L3 cache, but Apple just never populated it. It looks like there's just a small handful of resistors (4 pulldowns and two 0Ω resistors) that configure the machine to bypass the L3 cache. The schematics list all the components necessary for populating the L3 circuits (voltage regulator, pullup/pulldowns, filters, etc.) and where to put them. So unstuff the NOL3_CACHE resistors, and stuff the L3_CACHE components, and that should do it. (In theory.) It's worth trying, anyway. And even got a couple of the SRAM ICs (Samsung K7DB03671B-HC25) for about $30 a couple months ago on eBay.
Anyway, the pinout/signal map is a Numbers file with the columns and rows laid out like the pins are in the datasheets. I wanted to make doubly sure that the 7450 and 7457 were actually pin-compatible, and to make sure that those pins match up with the signals in the schematic. So in each cell, it lists the name of the pin according to the datasheets for the 7450, 7455, and 7457, and the last line is the signal name on the PCB, according to the schematic. Cells with a red outline indicate pins that didn't match up 100%. (But from what I can tell, should be fine.) I find it a lot easier to read than the pinout/signal list in the datasheets.
The second file is an Omnioutliner file for the PLL configurations, showing the bus multiplier in the leftmost column, with the other columns showing what the PLL config is for the 7450, 7457, and according to the iMac schematic, respectively. Made it a lot easier to see the differences in PLL configs between the 7450 and the 7457, showing that for the most part they line up. I'm uploading it here as a PDF because maybe not everyone has Omnioutliner.
Also made a Soulver file to run some numbers, but I'm not going to upload that. It's just a little utility for me to figure out power consumption, using available data from the datasheets. (Imagine that! Data in a datasheet!) I was able to use it, though, to determine that I will need a beefier power supply, especially with the L3 cache. Basically, with everything configured the way I want, I'll be pulling ≈12.2 more watts than the original configuration. (I love when electrical work gets all mathy.
) So I found someone who was parting out their USB 2.0 iMac G4 and bought the power supply off of them for $20. 160W, which is 30 more than what the iMac currently has, which should cover the difference with more to spare.
Of course, 30 more watts means more heat, so the exhaust fan is definitely going to need to be beefier. I'm still looking into that. Also, the 160W PSU has a 16-pin molex connector, rather than the 14-pin on my iMac. Not an deal-breaker, though; all the signals are the same, with the addition of an extra pin going to ground and an extra pin going to FireWire power directly, which is an interesting quirk of the USB 2.0 iMac. But if you took those pins off, then the pinout is the same as the 14-pin molex. So that should be pretty easy to adapt.
All that said, I decided that I'm going to work on the compacts first before I get to the iMac. They definitely need more love at the moment to get to full working order.