First off, Haruman said it was ok to do this to a Pole Position. So if anyone has an issue with me doing this to a PP cab, PM him.
That being said....
YAY! 5,000th post. Yes I waited till I got back from Taiwan to post this. (I'll have to post pictures after this, because then the picture post would have been #5,000)
Ok, so I started off with 3 Pole Position cabs, 1 fell off the truck, down to 2.
The cab in the best shape got scrubbed down and cleaned out, cleaned up all the wiring and dirt; its waiting for Haruman to figure out if the PP2 board is any good and how to run power without the ---smurfy--- AR2. On to the last PP cab. It had NO wiring in it, no pedals, a monitor with a busted neck board, cracked yoke, busted chassis, No speakers, basically the wood and a broken monitor. I mean even the wheel lacked the encoder board.
Here are the AFTER shots. The before shots are in the "restorations" section under "pole position triplets"
I started by removing the old monitor, and cleaning everything. This is probably the worst smelling cabinet Ive even owned. I wiped out the bottom with bleach water, and ended up slopping primer all over the inside to cover the smell. You cant really see it, but when I post up pix, I know someone is gonna ask "why is it white in the bottom?"
I also removed the stuff from the marquee area and put a regular florescent fixture up there.
above: the bottom before I painted it. It smells like Xouchie punched it 3 weeks ago.
The Monitor is a de-cased 27" TV. Yeah, I squeezed a 27" monitor into a pole position! I rank this up there with a 32" monitor in a KI2 cab
To make it fit I had to pull the 2 little strips of wood off of the front of the monitor area, and use a hacksaw to cut the metal tabs off of the corners. Not all the tab just half of it, so I had something to brace to the insides of the cab. The TV has component input as well, and I plan to use it if not it also has S-video. I soldered to wires from the chassis to arcade push buttons. 1 for power, 1 for input; just in case I put a dreamcast in there or something.
above: the inputs. I used a regular composite (V/L/R) wire for the component connection, I'll eventually buy the right wire....maybe.
above: there isnt much clearance for the neck tube for a 27" CRT inside a Pole Position
above: the power/input soldering
I have a 2.1 speaker system in there, 1 speaker up top, and the sub woofer and speaker sitting on the little shelf above where the pedals go. This allows the sound to cleanly leave the cab through the 2 speaker openings and for the base to have a little bump.
For the wheel, I tried to strip out a USB ball mouse first but it just wasn't moving consistently, or very well at all. I actually got a laser mouse hacked to bits this morning (pictures pending) and it work MUCH better. The only down side being that the wheel uses the up/down instead of the left/right because I couldnt get the board to sit in the opening the other way. The mouse hack might be temporary if I end up getting a PC wheel. I mean I really want the PP cab to play pole position, but I'd rather player the model 2/model 3 etc ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- more. I'm still not 100% sure what to do about the pedals. I mean I can put switches down there, but then the gas is either all on or all off. Im leaning towards a PC wheel because of that. I also have a Dreamcast Steering wheel, I may use that with a USB adapter.
above: the USB ball mouse hack, mouse button hacked to shifter, same as new hack, I just dont have any pix
The shifter is soldered into the left mouse button. I actually have a 4 button mouse in there, so I may solder into the other inputs or use the $15 encoder from Vigo in this. The pedals really have me wondering... maybe an A-pac, I really don't know. I'll be drilling holes into the shroud for the camera buttons, now before you throw a hissy fit remember 2 things, the shroud is pretty rough to begin with, and Haruman said it was ok. I may use the buttons I got from Nephasth that are clear and wire colored LEDs into them. I think it'll look neat.
I'll post more when more work is done, I'm still in the middle of getting the PC (AMD dual core 2.3) together and seeing if I need to buy a video card for it for model 3 stuffs. I cant wait to figure out how to get Cruisn USA, Pole Position, SCUD Racer, etc all running without wanting to punch a baby.
proof of concept, a sega dreamcast via composite input
EDIT:
I always liked how people tracked how expensive their cabs were to make. So here's mine:
NEW Blood red T-Molding: $30
Pole Position Cabinet: $100
Logitech PS3 Wheel: $150
Red fans:$25
florescent fixture:$10
Vigo Encoder:$15
LED wiring and stuffs:$35
Dowel Rod for plugging my mistakes $4
EMUMovies LIFETIME subscription $60
4 way shifter (not installed yet) $42
Extra wires for the ZD encoder: $5
Plexiglass for the monitor and shroud: $20
Artwork printed for the shroud: $33
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Total so far: $509
free stuffs:
OTHER 27" (Sony)
27" TV (RCA)
Computer
old mouse for hack I didnt use
old DC wheel that broke and I rage smashed.