Quick question about converting a cab to mame.

[langdoguk]

Hi there , I was getting my parts together to build my own cab but there is a cab going to auction tommorrow along the road from me ( Never has Arcade machines) , Its a racing cab with a working monitor and a working coin mech , no jamma board . I've not really read much about converting as I did plan to build ( Next time  )
What is the basics I would need to convert it to mame ? I was thinking a JPAC ,Minipac ?? ,and would I need an arcade VGA card or would my own video card be OK (ATI Radeon 9550 ) , also can the speakers be used with a PC .

I'm just asking quickly to see how much I can afford to bid ,  any help would be great , thanks Craig 

[knave]

I'm no expert but I'd say that it's the working monitor that has the most value.

Lots of things could affect this: Do you want a driving cab? do you want a arcade monitor? Is it in good condition? How easy would it be to fit a custom control panel?
All these things would factor in.  If you want it for mame and you want to use the monitor and it's in pretty good condition, I'll say $150 is the most I can see it being worth.  I probably wouldn't pay more than $75 unless I really really needed that monitor and it was super convinient.

From the sound of it you'd be better off buying a cheepie $50 cab that's totaly empty, and using a TV for a display.

[langdoguk]

I'm wanting to do away with the driving controls and use it with a Control panel , It looks as if it might be quite easy to convert ( I'm pretty crap at woodwork) .
The monitor looks like about a 26 " and the coin mech is in good condition , the cab needs a good clean up ,not to big a job , it's just what I would need to convert it I'm not too sure about .

[knave]

I'm wanting to do away with the driving controls and use it with a Control panel...

What you want to do is totaly doable. It's common to remove the driving CP and build you're own.  Usually it's a box that is mounted on the cab in place tof the stock CP with the controls you want on it.  To run Mame if the Jamma harness is in good shape you can pick up a Jpac and an arcade VGA and hook up your PC running mame through them.

[BobA]

There may not be much that connects to a jamma harness in a driving cab.  Use a jpac only if there are controls that connect thru it.  If not it might be easier to connect to an ipac with your new controls.

[knave]

Couldn't  he pretty easily add the control buttons to the existing harness as long as it's in good condition?  I'm still for skipping it all together and getting an Ipac or keywiz and using a TV. (and a different cab alltogether.)

[Kremmit]

If that's a working 25 or 27 inch arcade monitor and I was looking for a cab to convert, I'd be very interested.