Badmouth's Redline Racer - Totalled

[BadMouth]

EDIT: State as of 9/30/2011



Original Post:

I've been trying to redo the control panel of my driving cab, but keep getting sidetracked by other little projects.
Maybe if I start a thread, I'll feel obligated to have progress to post.   

Earlier this year, I picked up a gutted Sega Virtual-On cab for next to nothing.




Had to bust the boards off the side of the cab where the end cap originally mounted and do a little bodywork.
That end also didn't have a channel for t-molding, so I had to route that.
Anyways, some fresh paint, new floor mats, new t-molding, tv, speakers, and logitech momo wheel later......


(marquee was cracked, so I covered it with bondo and painted it    )

This was just to get it together into a use-able form until I learned what I wanted.
The control panel is currently just a plywood frame covered with foam & pleather.
Everything is controlled using the steering wheel buttons. 
This makes it nearly impossible for a guest to sit down and play like they would a real arcade machine.   

So, my goal is to redo the frontend and control panel to make it more arcade-like and user friendly.
I considered several themes & names (DUI or Driven Insane), but decided against naming it.
I am trying to have somewhat of a consistent theme as far as using the same colors, font & flames throughout.



I'm not sure I like the control panel pics there.  Almost all of them are taken at an angle.

I plan to use the font on my buttons also:

[BadMouth]

I was primarily focused on the Sega Model 2 driving games, so started with those control panels as a guide.  (and this is a model 2 cab, so it's fitting)
I knew I wanted 4 view buttons and wanted all the buttons labeled.
Then I came across this part of a Virtua Racing control panel on fleabay.
I assumed it took standard size arcade buttons.  I assumed wrong.
After drilling out the holes and spacing them wider......


It heated up a bit too much from the hole saw and blistered slightly above button # 2 and below the 2 & 3.
Live and learn.  I can live with it.

I plan to insert arrow labels into the buttons so they can double as navigation buttons in the front end.
All buttons will be illuminated.  In addition to these, there will be coin, exit, & radio buttons.

Here is the mockup I did this evening using foam project board (with graph lines on it!)
There will be another front piece that will fit under the steering wheel and join up to it.



At least I have a plan now.

[BadMouth]

Spent most of yesterday evening working on this front panel made from a store display.  It had a nice smooth surface, so I figured it would look nice painted.
After spending several hours getting it to fit around the wheel housing perfectly, I decided it was complete garbage.  If I used it, I was going to have to piece together a separate panel for the bottom and figure out what to do with the seam.  I'd figured on bolting down the wheel then installing the dashboard from the top.  I didn't realize that until then that I could make a one-piece panel and slide the wheel in from the front.  
In the end, the dashboard I spent all that time on made a good template.  I had also made a new framework from scrap plywood....decided that it was the worst thing I'd ever built...ever.  Nothing I've ever tried to make out of plywood turned out right.  

Tonight I went back to my old friend MDF.  We've worked well together since the car audio boom of the early 90's.
I made the front all one piece.  No seams to contend with and should be easy to cover before assembly.



There were a bunch of angles to contend with.  The bottom of the cabinet is slanted.  Because the wheel is angled upward on it's base, the shelf it attaches to had to be angled down to get the wheel in the position I wanted it. The slot that's cut in the middle of the front for the shelf to pass through is cut at an angle so everything is nice and tight with no gaps.    I do have a couple spots where the edge of saw cut a little too far, but I couldn't see it from the side I was looking at while cutting.
If that's all the bondo that I'm gonna need, I'm overjoyed.



12:30am...I guess it's Saturday now.  Time to call it a day.
I was surprised how close the fit was around the wheel on the first try.
The first failed attempt at a panel made a very good template.
I only have a little bit of sanding to do tomorrow.



I have to figure out what I'm going to do to cover the front.
I'm choosing between vinyl laminate from partsexpress (which I'd have to wait for), vinyl upholstery, gloss paint, or textured paint.
The top part of the dash will definitely be padded vinyl upholstery.

[EvilNuff]

Nice start, I like it!  A friend of mines interested in a driving cab at some point so I keep linking him any threads I find on driving cabs.

[BadMouth]

Here's today's progress:

Got sidetracked again and got a late start.  

Did some sanding to fine tune the opening where the wheel slides in.  It's a near perfect fit against the wheel all around the top.

Started cutting the button holes, then realized my square view buttons were too short to reach through the MDF  
I should have thought of that when I switched from the thinner material, but it slipped my mind somehow.
I don't have a router, so I ended up putting real big spade bit in my drill press and notching out behind each button hole.
It's a good thing I had a cheap drill press or I'd been out of luck (or on my way to buy a router).



The next issue was keeping the buttons serviceable.  I had enough room for the switch on the back of the button to fit, but it was too close to the main shelf to get a button wrench on it.  I reached in through the steering wheel opening to see how difficult it would be to tighten them after the top was in place.  It was possible, but a PITA.  You'd be reaching around the corner and working blind.  So at the risk of making the whole thing less solid, I cut out a big area behind the buttons so everything could be serviced from the bottom without any hassle.  I made sure that I had enough room to get a button wrench in there.  After it was done, I realized that I could have cut the button wrench in half & it would have fit into a smaller space.  Well, it's all open now and should be super easy to work on.  The radio button has two posts to keep it straight, so I'm not as worried about getting it tight.
I may add some reinforcement on the left side and put some pilot holes up through the bottom of the cab to secure the middle two supports.



At the end of today:
(top part is just a piece of foam project board that I was using to figure out how deep to make the top.
the final top will match the curve of the dashboard)



Tomorrow:  make top, screw everything together, bondo, then making a decision on paint.

[TOK]

I think plexi painted black from the back with R/C car paint would look great for that control panel setup.

[BadMouth]

I think plexi painted black from the back with R/C car paint would look great for that control panel setup.

That would have looked slick.  Had I had more of a plan to begin with, it could have been.  

Honestly, I didn't want to put that much time/money/effort into it.  I picked up a $7 can of rustoleum truck bed liner last night to experiment with.
After doing the bondo, priming and sanding, it probably was prepped well enough for a better finish, but the bed liner turned out to have the texture I wanted, so I went that route.  The finish dried duller than I wanted and felt rough to the touch, which made it pick up dust really bad.  I had visions of people eating cheetos and leaving orange dusty prints embedded in my dash.    So I sprayed some scrap pieces with the bedliner and experimented with them.  I used gloss black paint on one, but it leveled out too much and ruined the texture.  I sprayed clearcoat on the other.  It held the texture, but didn't feel as rough and didn't pick up prints.  After it was completely dry, I sprayed it with the cleaner that I use on my bar (sun and earth all purpose, smells awesome).  It cleaned up beautifully and the paper towel I used didn't snag on the texture.  Most importantly, there were no bad reactions between the bedliner and clearcoat (both rustoleum).  

Today's pics:

Actual assembly!  Up until this point, it's all been mock up and test fitting.


wasn't sure how I was going to get the dash cut so that the back sets flush against the plexi since it had complex curves and angles going on.
I ended up wrapping a ratchet strap around the whole thing to hold the top of the dash on, then used my old template
held flat against the back to draw a line of where to cut.

It worked out fine.  I cut out two dashboard tops in case I changed my mind about how far it's going to stick out.

Paint!  (before clearcoat)


I get impatient.  I've ruined a few projects by laying on the clearcoat too thick and having bad things happen.
The paint underneath needs enough time to breath.  I know this, but still have a problem waiting.
So I had a drink and played light gun games to distract myself between coats.



Where it stands now:


Everything is just sitting in there.  Nothing is tightened down.  I still need to cut out my button labels.
The white button will be <EXIT> and the orange one will be RADIO.  The view buttons will have arrows on them for menu navigation.
I don't like the silver Act Labs shift knob.  By the end of this project, I'll have it swapped out for the leather wrapped one that came with the Momo wheel.
It has a smaller shaft, so it's going to take a little work.  I looked at some real shift knobs, but they seem too heavy.

....cause it's tight like that.  



Even though it's tight, I'm afraid of getting a little light bleeding from the back of the illuminated buttons.
I sprayed the inside flat black to help with reflections, but I wish I'd sectioned off the buttons up top.
We'll see what happens.

Next up, the top of the dash...and to pad or not to pad.

[BadMouth]

Wow, having this thread is motivating me to make some sort of progress almost every day.  

Real life got in the way yesterday, but I got back to the project this evening.
I was ill prepared in some respects and improvised to get things done, but just kept moving and in the end a lot got done.  

I decided to go with a padded dash, in part to add thickness since I was only using 1/8" hardboard (for it's flexibility).
I didn't have a real plan when I started; just cut out the pieces, sprayed them with 3M super 77 and stacked them.
I wrapped the foam around just far enough to get a nice round shape on the front lip of the dash.
While looking for some type of glue in my toolbox, I came across some double sided tape.
Didn't have much faith in it, but tried a piece and it bonded well, even with the vinyl stretched tight, it didn't give.



The vinyl was pretty stretchy, so to attach it to the main dash, I just stretched the excess down the sides and tacked it.
It might not have been the most professional way to do it, but it was easy and came out looking the way I expected it to.



I wanted to get the plexi ordered today and went back through the forums to see what I should buy.
Some wish they'd gone tinted, others wished they hadn't.  I wasn't sure what to get.  I looked at the Lowes and
Home Depot sites to see what they had in stock locally.  Home Depot had something called Optix, but only in clear.
The website for Optix had great information on how to cut, drill, etc. http://www.plaskolite.com/products/flat_sheet/optix/
(click fabrication)  So I went with that, figuring that I could use automotive tint on it if I wasn't happy with clear.
The Optix guide said that you could score it two or three times and then break it off like glass.  
I tried this using an acrylic scoring tool that I bought at home depot.  It did not work as advertised.  It removed very little material on each pass.
I scored it ten times and still didn't get a clean break.  Luckily, it didn't break toward the inside.  
I rescored the spots that didn't break right, clamped the edge between two boards and took a hammer to it.
Probably not the right tool, but it worked.  I still had some points sticking out that I had to take the sander to.
The stuff sanded really well.  It drilled easily too (used a ceramic/glass bit & widened the holes with a grinding stone on a dremel).  
If I had to do over again, I'd use a saw/router/dremel instead of scoring it.  I'd definitely buy the Optix brand again.
Anyways, placed it in front of the tv, drew some rough lines, measured for more accurate lines, taped off, painted.....



I sanded the RCA logo off the front of the TV so it wouldn't show (couldn't find my electrical tape, but I could find my sandpaper).  
I missed the VCR+Plus logo at the top.
It doesn't bother me enough to take it back apart, but if it's ever apart, I'll get rid of those too.



It's getting harder to get detailed pics with all the black items blending together.


Still need to cut out my button labels and swap out the shift knob.
The wiring is on it's way, but I probably won't get to it until weekend.

[RonnieC312]

sweet.. i want one lol

[BadMouth]

Got a couple things done this evening...button labels & shifter knob.
The labels made it look a bit less generic.
I think I need to add some more style, but still don't want to give it a name.
I'll probably lay down some yellow flames over the red when all is said and done.


That's going to be it for a while.
I won't be able to get back to it until later next week.

[thesharkfactor]

hi mate..

great work! the control panel looks great and fits well...

when looking for inspiration for my cab, i saw that a another similar minded guy had used a sega rally dashboard and fitted a logitech g25 into it. he had a metal worker fabricate a mount to erm, mount the logitech into the sega dash. i myself, used  a sega dashboard but i used a happ wheel and made a mount from mdf board. not an option for you now, but for others who may want to attempt this.

your cab is looking good, but might i suggest a couple of fine details..

you can get a monitor bezel for that cabinet, try ebay, search "sega bezel" that should find what you need. the bezel will hide the pc speakers and the tv casing.
also, you could also get original sega speakers to fit either side of the monitor..

try hyperspin as a front end. ideal for using a steering wheel, and it looks great too!     

[XNIF]

yes this is great! How big is that TV?

[BadMouth]

hi mate..

great work! the control panel looks great and fits well...

when looking for inspiration for my cab, i saw that a another similar minded guy had used a sega rally dashboard and fitted a logitech g25 into it. he had a metal worker fabricate a mount to erm, mount the logitech into the sega dash. i myself, used  a sega dashboard but i used a happ wheel and made a mount from mdf board. not an option for you now, but for others who may want to attempt this.

your cab is looking good, but might i suggest a couple of fine details..

you can get a monitor bezel for that cabinet, try ebay, search "sega bezel" that should find what you need. the bezel will hide the pc speakers and the tv casing.
also, you could also get original sega speakers to fit either side of the monitor..

try hyperspin as a front end. ideal for using a steering wheel, and it looks great too!      

Thanks.  Like any other project, I've learned a lot along the way and could definitely take it up a notch if I ever redo it.  The homemade plexi bezel actually works pretty good.  It's dark enough inside the cab that the tv case isn't visible unless I'm shining a bright light on it or using a camera flash.  I have the original Virtual on speaker housings that wrap around the monitor, but they won't fit unless I decase the tv.  The speakers do detract from the authentic arcade look, but I'm ok with it for now.

The biggest thing is that the American college football season starts next week and I have to have this thing back together and my bar cleaned up in time!  

I'll check out hyperspin.  I've always been impressed with it in videos, but was reluctant to try it because I didn't want to spend a lot of time learning how to configure it with all my emulators.  I have Mala set up to display all arcade games in one list regardless of what program is used to emulate them.  I'll have to see if Hyperspin can do that.

If I had it to do over again, I would probably start out with a Daytona control panel (same cab, it would drop right in).  I have the guts out of an Act Labs FF wheel in my parts bin to use as an interface.  If I come across a Daytona panel cheap enough, I may pick it up to tinker with.  I have some ideas that would require some experimenting to prove that the concepts can work.

One thing I'd like to pull off: Attach an optical encoder wheel toward the top of the steering shaft for 360 degree wheel games, then have some form of clutch to engage and disengage a second shaft attached to the FF motor and potentiometer for 270 degree games.  This would be done automatically by the computer depending on the game selected.  I was thinking that an A/C compressor clutch would work (and it would), but decided the current draw was probably a bit much.  I'm not actively working on this, but if I ever build another control panel, this will be a feature.   

The big thing keeping me from putting a lot of effort into the driving cab is the limited number of games that play well in MAME.  If it weren't for El Semi's Model 2 Emulator and coming across a cab for $50, I wouldn't have bothered.  I've installed a few PC driving games, but it's been impossible to navigate them without the keyboard and mouse.  Having both a console and pc in the cab is definitely the way to go, but you'd have to start out with a wheel that will work for both.  

The biggest thing I've learned from this project is that planning pays off (I didn't do any planning on this project and had to redo a few things), so my winter project is going to be learning to use some cad software and plan out my regular cab in painstaking detail before I buy or build anything.  I have some crazy ideas for that cab too.  

[BadMouth]

yes this is great! How big is that TV?

It's a 25"  EDIT: Measured, it's a 27" It just fits between the original monitor mounts in the cab.  
One of the mounts had to be removed to get the TV in and then put back in after the tv was in place.

A 27" or 29" would fit, but you might have to ditch the bottom monitor mount and have a shorter control panel.
A 32" might come close to fitting if decased.

It's a Sega Model 2 cab used in Virtual-On Cyber Troopers, Daytona USA, Sega GT24hr, etc.
[sThe original monitor was 25"][/s]  EDIT: That's the concensus of what I found onling, but seems too small.  I'm not sure.

The opening is 28 3/4" wide (including the space used by the speaker grills on the original).  It's 20 3/4" between the top and bottom monitor mount studs.
You could probably go up to a 24" height with the bottom monitor mount removed.

(still had my measurements for the plexi in my wallet, lol)

[HaRuMaN]

   I want a Virtual On so bad I can taste it...

Did you get the VO control panel with it or no?

[BadMouth]

   Cost:

Cab               $50
TV                 $50  (overpaid, long story involving a friend's wife being miffed that he gave away their tv    )
Wheel            $40
T-Molding       $40
Mat for floor    $10 (original was light grey and so filthy it was easier to replace than clean)
Shifter           $30 (another wheel & pedals included, but they had issues with some PC games)
Computer      $250 (Athlon X3 2.9Ghz, 2GB Ram, 500GB HD, Nvidia 8600GT; waited for good sales at newegg)
                           EDIT: Have since swapped out for a 3.2Ghz X2
Speakers/sub   $25
V-racing panel $18
Buttons          $20
Paint/bedliner  $30
3/4" MDF        $30 (have enough left over to build a bartop)
Plexiglass        $30 (have enough left over for bartop)
KeyWiz          $40  (still might hack a pad, but this is quick and easy)
Vinyl              $14
Foam             $10
Wire/Misc       $13
---------------------------

         TOTAL $700    

I still have to wire it and paint flames on it, but all the materials are already paid for and included.

It didn't feel like I was spending that much on it.  
I nickel and dimed it; rarely spent more than $40 at a time.

I had it running off my main mame computer for a while and it worked fine, you just couldn't play both at once.

I still have the Virtua On boards, PSU, etc., but I have no way to test them and don't expect to make a lot off them.

[BadMouth]

  I want a Virtual On so bad I can taste it...

Did you get the VO control panel with it or no?

No.  There are a couple on fleabay at the moment.
I tried to think of a way to work dual trigger sticks into the driving design but gave up on putting them on the dash.

I'm still thinking about putting one on each side of the seat. 

[XNIF]

 Cost:

...
TV                 $50  (overpaid, long story involving a friend's wife being miffed that he gave away their tv    )

...

Typical

[BadMouth]

Wiring:
I didn't pay attention to which way the bulbs & switches would be turned when I installed the buttons.
I had to redo them and since they had directional arrows on the front, I had to take them apart and turn them 90 degrees.
Other than that, everything went smooth and it took hardly any time at all to wire everything.

To save time & effort, I had ordered a KeyWiz.  I felt like a lot was going to waste only hooking 8 buttons up to it, but when deciding what keys to assign buttons to, I realized something:  If I used the arrow keys, ESC & Enter, maybe I'd be able to navigate pc game menus without breaking out the keyboard and mouse.  It worked like a charm.  I tried Need For Speed Underground & Grid.  Everything was able to be done from the buttons on the CP.  The only oddball thing I came across was that NFS required you to press Q to quit, so I just assigned the radio button to Q.



Buttons Lit:


The buttons look ok with my paper labels inside.  Inkjet transparencies would probably look better.  Applying Vinyl stickers to the diffusers would probably yield the best results if you only needed simple shapes or words.

That's probably all I'm going to do for a while.  It will sit until I get some kind of inspiration for more cosmetic touches.
I may try to heat and bend a piece of plexi to make a new marquee.  It's something I've always wanted to learn, but have never tried.

Some more pics (they are a bit washed out because there was a bright light above me.  You couldn't see any detail in the cab with the light turned off though):



EDIT: The seat and top actually do have all the bolts in them now, lol.

[thesharkfactor]

good work..!

[HaRuMaN]

I'm sad to see a VO go, but considering what a fine you job you did there, I'm OK with it.      

[broberg]

I Really like it!

Looks comfy ^^

[BadMouth]

Minor update.....

I never showed the pedals before because I was just using the momo pedals placed on the floor of the cab.  
A few weeks ago, added happ pedals that have been in my parts bin since last fall.  The clutch is both analogue & digital.  The clutch pot is wired to an Act Labs pedal box (so it will only work in mame or games that allow more than one controller).  I also installed a microswitch that the fan gear presses when the pedal is 3/4 of the way down. The installation pics I took at the time were horrible because my camera phone was set to super low quality.  I took these the other day while I had the cab pulled out for some PC work.





Didn't have much choice but to center them or cut the cab.
(put steel bar stock across the bottom for fear of the wood not being strong enough)


I'm happy with them.  I'd like the super expensive sim pedals better, but these will do for now.

Gbeef's thread has me wanting to take my cab up a level.  

I've had a happ ffb wheel and the parts to make it work in the parts bin for a while now, but I enjoy the cab too much to have it torn apart.
Got a good deal on a dashboard from an outrun 2 the other week.  Going to build a test bench and tinker with hacking a spare momo wheel sometime soon.  I also want to work out ways to incorporate support for 360 degree wheel games.  If/when I get everything sorted out, then I'll modify my cab.

[gbeef]

Nice upgrade to the pedals. Who makes them?

[AurorasDady]

Just read through this and it got me thinking, I may just have room in my game room for somthing like this. I thank you for the inspiration, though my wallet would like to say

[BadMouth]

Nice upgrade to the pedals. Who makes them?

Standard Happ stuff from a San Fransisco Rush cabinet.
Just had to swap out the potentiometers to 10k ones and wire it to the logitech pedal cable.

My only complaint is that they're meant to be pushed downward rather than forward.
I could have angled them, or made different arms for the pedals, but didn't want to go to the trouble right now.
They work good with my seat height, but I wouldn't recommend them for seats mounted any lower.

The resistance springs on the brake and clutch have a pretty solid feel.  Gas pedal is soft which I guess is good.
Newer happ pedals just use a torsion spring that probably doesn't offer much resistance, but these have a cylinder under each pedal arm with a real stiff spring inside it.

I can see someone indiviually mounting the pedal brackets at an angle above the footbox area and being happy with them.
They would have to make new arms to keep the pedals from being at a funky angle though.
It's just square metal stock with a threaded hole in one end and the pedal welded on the other end.  It wouldn't be too hard for someone with a little metalworking experience.  I had them apart to clean them and paint the mounting plate.  Compressing the springs enough to get them back in there is a PITA.
It might be a cheaper way to go, but I don't think it would be as good as the sim pedals because these are still basically a stick swinging on a single pivot point.

Looking forward to your updates!  

[BadMouth]

I thank you for the inspiration, though my wallet would like to say

I rarely spent more than $40 at a time, sometimes a couple of times a week though. 
Couldn't believe how much it was when I totalled it all up.

I plan to add cab measurements to my driving cab information thread sometime soon.
Maybe that will spur a few more to build them

Now we just need to get online multiplayer support working in Model 2.
Maybe a track record thread.......

[Corbo]

Great cabinet!  I love the care you've put into it, especially the vinyl above the dash that's a great touch.

[TheChairmanH2K]

SON OF A $%&&%$%^&!!!1  i saw that VO cab on ebay.  it was in Pennsylvania right?  it wasnt far from me but the guy wouldnt reply to my emails.   raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[BadMouth]

it wasnt far from me but the guy wouldnt reply to my emails.

Hmmm....he replied to mine.  It wasn't that close to me, so I asked them if they would hold it for me for a few weeks if I went ahead and paid for it.
They did one better and brought it to an arcade auction close to me that weekend. 

It came from TNT amusements, outside Philadelphia.  I'd like to go buy a truckload of gutted cabs someday and make each one play different types of games (mounted guns, shmups, fighters, classics, etc).  I rent though and already have more stuff than I ever want to move.

[yotsuya]

I'd like to go buy a truckload of gutted cabs someday and make each one play different types of games (mounted guns, shmups, fighters, classics, etc).  I rent though and already have more stuff than I ever want to move.

Same here. Dedicated 4-way vertical, driving, guns, yoke.... No room though!

[TheChairmanH2K]

oh i know TNT alright.  a guy i work with does their restoration sideart part time.  they mustve bought the cab off the original seller from ebay because the pics you have of it being in a hockey rink type area are the ones i saw on ebay from a guy who owned a hockey rink.  well, you certainly did a great job fixin up the VO cab, glad it went to a good home 

[dexxy]

great job!  I have an old act-labs wheel, shifer and pedals including clutch that has been kicking around here for several years.   I got a dual indy cab with the intention of converting one to pc driving sim, the other to flight sim, but i'll be damned if I didn't get them working and now I don't want to wreck em!  Although I did get two extra seats with them!

[BadMouth]

I've been piling arcade driving controls up since last fall, but wasn't too motivated to install them because I like the cab the way it is.
The recent driving cab builds have me wanting to take mine up a level now. 
(or maybe even build a new one, but the same work needs done either way)

I picked up this awesome CP from an Outrun 2 cab.  It's mint!  (smudges notwithstanding)

(got it for $30 shipped!....fairly sure it was a price mistake and the seller didn't want to risk damage to their feedback
shipping alone had to be almost that much)

I'd also picked up a 4 speed shifter from a Sega Super GT (Scud Race).
I hadn't planned on using the shifter because it was going to be a pain to wire because  it only uses 3 switches.
There is a way to do it, but one gear will always be registering, so you'd have to have another switch to disable it while mapping other keys.  After working out the details for hacking a Logitech MOMO wheel though, the fact that the button presses were dependent on different ground wires being used, using this shifter suddenly made sense.

I added an extra switch for the other ground because I was thinking of it as wired in the thread above, where it would always be registering a button press (which would make mapping keys a PITA)  Now that I think about it though, with the MOMO pcb, using the NC tab on the left/right switch would have worked fine as long as the shifter didn't fall forwards or backwards enough to close one of the other switches while in neutral.  Oh well, it's done and will work.


The Outrun 2 cp was set up for an UP/DOWN shifter.  I thought it would just be a matter of swapping out a bracket, but the bracket is welded in.
I was figuring on cutting it out to accept the 4 speed shifter when fortune smiled on me again and I came across a Daytona USA frame on fleabay for $12 + free shipping.  I'm glad I waited!  Here are both brackets.  The Outrun 2 doesn't have speaker mounts.  The mounts on the back for the steering and ffb assemblies are also different.  The points to mount it to the cab are the same though and I still have the original brackets that were on my cab, so it should bolt right up.


I buffed the black plastic cover at the base of the shifter to make it shiny and ordered a brand spankin' new 4 speed top plate from Divemaster It was only $10.60 + around $6 shipping.

I really like the feel of this shifter.  It just feels more like a real shifter than the happ.

Until I had all the parts and put them together, I didn't realize the weird way that the top plate mounts.
The shifter bolts have a hole tapped into the back of them and the screws that hold the top plate screw into them.
I pondered how to handle this for a while, then ordered the actual original sega part so I wouldn't have to spend time messing with it.
I wasn't crazy about spending $20 on four bolts, but it will save me a bunch of time.  (not that I'm rushing this)

The hole in the middle of the Daytona frame isn't large enough for the happ wheel, so it will have to be widened.
There also isn't any space for bolt heads between the frame and the plastic dash.  Normally, I'd just mount a plank of wood to the sega wheel mounting points and attach the happ bracket to that, but I decided to take it to a welding shop instead and have them do it right since the happ ffb motor is going to be putting some stress on it.  I don't want it loosening up over time.  It will probably be a week before this is done.


The lack of depth in the view button area is going to present some challenges.  The original buttons are crazy expensive and the ones I have in my current cab are too deep.  The metal behind the area is thick...and two layers thick.  I found these poker/lottery machine buttons that I really like, but they're $10 each.
http://na.suzohapp.com/pushbuttons/57200041.htm  Someone was selling white ones on fleabay cheap, so I ordered 4 of them, but they may just end up being placeholders until I sell some spares and order the colored ones.  (I'll order them from Divemaster, same price but cheaper shipping)

....also ordered a real steering wheel. 

It will take a while to get here, then it will take a while to come up with a paddle shifter design that I'm happy with.
I'm not going to rush this one.

[Martijn]

This cab shape is really nice for racers 

And you are doing a great job finishing it

[gbeef]

Really nice. i Wish i had access to real parts... this is gonna look great when your done. are you planning on redoing artwork also?

[BadMouth]

This cab shape is really nice for racers  

And you are doing a great job finishing it

Thanks.  It's currently nowhere near the standard of most of the cabs on here (yours included).
One of the reasons that I never built an upright cab is because I didn't want to do it until I was ready to invest the time and money to do something really special.

I'm striving to raise my standards in this round of upgrades, but the cab itself would need disassembled/sanded/repainted to get the whole cab to that level.

Really nice. i Wish i had access to real parts... this is gonna look great when your done. are you planning on redoing artwork also?

If it's the shifter cover you're interested in, I can get you the part number if you want to order one from Divemaster or a Happ dealer in Canada.
......Or I can send you the Outrun 2 one in the first pic.
It's in perfect condition.   I was keeping it because I thought I might use a G27 shifter.  The plan was to screw the G27 shifter boot ring to the top of it.
I never did check to see if it was big enough to cover the opening, but I can check tonight if you're interested in doing yours that way.  If you have access to a sewing machine, shifter boots are easy to make.  You could make one with a square base that bolts into the recess.

I reaaaally want to go all out on artwork and do the area above the view buttons, instructions on the bezel, vinyl stickers on the button diffusers, etc.
Have to settle on a theme first.    I'm not as good with the art software as I'd like to be.  The plan is to do a mediocre job on all the art myself,
then turn my copies and all the source material over to someone who is really good to redo it to their standards.

I'm also not sure if I'm switching to an LCD in this cab, building a new cab around this dashboard, or what.  
I kind of like the old crt tv for arcade games.  It just feels right (even if I do have to turn it on with a remote).  
I've been using the G27 I fixed with a 32" LCD on my desk and it's pretty cool for sim racing. The extra field of view really helps with sims and newer games.  
The dashboard needs to be done the same way in either case, so I'm making progress on it.  

The current leader for a theme idea is: R-cade Racer Anthology with the R done in Honda Type R lettering and the rest done newer Ridge Racer style.
A few problems with it.....I've always been irked by having "cade" in cab names, so I'd feel hipocritical having it in mine.
And I can't really call it "anthology" unless I can get the wheel to also work for 360 degree wheel games and include all the old games.
I'm working on that, but wondering if it's really worth it as I play mostly games from the 90's.

I've got lots of time.  I already have a playable cab, so there's no need to rush.

[sqwirral]

Another awesome cab. Glad you replaced the pedals, I just got my G27 and realised how awful the plastic Momo ones were that I used for so long. The real Happ ones look the nuts.

[BadMouth]

I had a million other obligations today (half of them still unfulfilled), but the welding shop calls and says the bracket is ready and that it will cost twice what I expected  

I pick it up and they did a much better job than they needed to, so I get over the sticker shock and move on.
I get it home and try to put the plastic dash on the front of it and it doesn't line up.  The steering shaft is a half inch off to the side.  
So I start measuring (which I guess I should have done before).
THE FRIGGIN' OUTRUN 2 DASH HAS THE STEERING WHEEL A HALF INCH OFF CENTER!!!!!!!  
The Daytona bracket has it centered.
I assumed arcade machine companies were cheap and just kept using old parts without changing them (except to make them cheaper).

I can't believe I didn't notice it before.
Not sure what I'm going to do now and don't have time to think about it until Monday.  

I guess it's either hack up their work and make some brackets to move it over a half inch (in which case it will bother me enough that I'll want to move the monitor, seat, etc over a half inch to keep the wheel centered), or hack up the dash.  :'(

I'm out.  Just wanted to ---smurfette---.  I have obligations all weekend long and can't mess with it now.  


EDIT:Couldn't sleep, so I grabbed a hacksaw and a dremel and FIXT it (removed the plastic cone from the center...or off center in this case).  
Those are smudges in the pic, actually managed to do it without gouging or scratching anything.
It still needs some cleaning up, but now I'm locked into a direction and can move forward.
Guess I'll have to make a bigger steering column.

[BadMouth]

Accomplished a few things today:

Re-installed all the happ ffb hardware.  Cut out a piece of 1/4" ABS plastic to use as a base for mounting the MOMO pcb.
Stuck the plastic to the bracket with emblem tape and screwed the pcb in place, using rubber grommets as standoffs.
Mounted the servo amp above the happ motor assembly and wired it up.  Wired up the shifter using leftover pieces of the Virtual On harness.
I still haven't settled on what other buttons I'll have, hence the mess in the lower right corner.  
This dash and super thick bracket doesn't leave a lot of room to squeeze extra buttons in.


Decided to upgrade to 5.1 surround.    The center channel speakers will be in the dash.  The rear channels will be in the top part of the cab.
(L/R speakers will be at ear level where they are now or possibly moved to the outside of the cab)


I ground off the rest of the cone in the center of the dash that I had cut off.  It didn't look too bad, but it would take a huge steering column to cover it and have the steering shaft centered in it.  So I removed the rivets holding the carbon fiber dash panel on and used it to make a template with the hole for the steering shaft in the right place.  I started to cut a new panel out of aluminum, but was failing miserably, so I plan to either cut it out of plastic or find someone who can do a good job with the metal and not cost me a fortune.

I had ordered some glossy carbon fiber vinyl to use on the view button area, hoping to match the center part of the dash.  Most likely I'll just use that on the center part of the dash now too, but I am considering taking this opportunity use some custom artwork.  I scanned the old dash panel in and I've made a mask in paint.net where I can just drop it on top other images to see what they would look like.  Originally, I was just using carbon fiber or brushed aluminum backgrounds.  Then I thought, why not use actual artwork?  Hopefully I'll find something that works.  It's dependent on my picking a theme.  Todays leading theme.....FTW Racing (you pick the meaning    )

Blank canvas.....


I should mention that the happ bracket is mounted upside down and the steering shaft is keyed so everything only fits one way.
If you're using a happ steering wheel, it will be upside down!
Also, the spacing on the happ 3-hole steering wheel is not the same as the spacing on a real 3-hole steering wheel.
EDIT: Just had a look at some other adapters and the three holes are slotted, so apparently there are different sizes.


Probably won't be any progress on the physical parts for a while.  I'm going to mess around with different artwork for a while and try to settle on a name.  My original cab is still untouched, so I can play it for inspiration.