Best of luck with your project David!
After reading your plans, I have some suggestions. You stated:
"One thing I will have to incorporate into my design will be a little control strip on the front of the cabinet that holds, Light switch, PC power button, PC reset button, Volume switch. I will do this because I want to emulate a real arcade machine as much as possible..."
A real arcade machine doesn't have a control strip on the front, and yours does not have to either. Search through these forums for the Bits Ltd. strip, or "one button solution". The Bits Ltd. strip is made in UK I believe, so you should have no trouble finding that. You'll also find plans to add a relay to a power strip and effectively end up with the same thing. One switch powers up everything in your cab-PC, Lights, Speakers, and Monitor. Mount your switch on the top or back of the cab where it belongs, and follow the other suggestions you'll find in here to auto load your front end and hide windows, and you will be very very close to a "real arcade" machine.
The second suggestion I have is for you to pick up a copy of Saints book to assist you in your research. You mentioned using the internet and picking peoples brains, but having the book will round out your research, provide you loads of information on the hows & whys + some history, and will give you another source to add to your bibliography.
Again, good luck, and keep studying here too.
D13