Arcade Simpit Conversion Project

[Daunt]

UPDATES:
8-27-15: http://bandofothersgaming.com/forum/showthread.php/2447-Arcade-Simpit-Conversion-Project?p=23193#post23193
9-9-15: http://bandofothersgaming.com/forum/showthread.php/2447-Arcade-Simpit-Conversion-Project?p=23396#post23396
2-4-16: http://bandofothersgaming.com/forum/showthread.php/2447-Arcade-Simpit-Conversion-Project?p=27479#post27479
4-12-16: http://bandofothersgaming.com/forum/showthread.php/2447-Arcade-Simpit-Conversion-Project?p=29276#post29276
4-18-16: http://bandofothersgaming.com/forum/showthread.php/2447-Arcade-Simpit-Conversion-Project?p=29499#post29499

Thus starts my thread for a project that I've thought long and hard about. I mentioned a bit in my other thread... I've wanted to build a racing rig for a while now, and I thought it would be way cooler to repurpose an old racing arcade game rather than build my own from scratch. If I found the right one, I'd need to do minimal work to it. Not to mention it would look 10x better than something like a PBC rig I'd end up doing.

Well in comes the steal I found on Craig's list:

In rough shape, didn't work. But in my eyes this is exactly what I want. So my first task I set about taking out the electronics... then washing the extremely dusty machine. I found inside the coin slot the date: June 9th 1982. This blast from the past is older than I am.

Quite a bit of electronics in there. Amazing to think about the advances in technology. I mean look at that circuit board. This thing has to be not even half the computer power of my phone. Probably not even a tenth.

Here you can see why the cabinet is so appealing as a simpit. It has the configuration and the basics of everything I need. I haven't a clue why this game has the "shifter" (just a high and low gear) is on the left side. All of this game's cabinets are like that.

The very dusty dash and monitor with scoring on the left. I'd like to keep as much as possible in the original state but have no clue how much I'll be able to save. I HAVE to have room for a keyboard, mouse and my G27. G27 shouldn't be an issue... the size of the "steering column" and wheel seem to be similar. I'd love to move the scoring around (to the top above my monitor) to use as for relative or timing.

Plenty of room for activities! Most of the guts of the machine are out, though the monitor still remains, as well as some stuff I can't easily get to. Didn't even get to cleaning the thing yet. At the very least when I go to move it to the basement, it will be a lot lighter.

 

[little P]

I'm really looking forward to following this project Daunt. Regarding the shifter being on the left, that's obviously correct, it's the rest of the world that has it wrong

Agreed about the amount of electronics in there, to think how far we've come is quite incredible really.

Good luck with your project and I'll be following it with great interest

 

[Daunt]

So I decided to sketch up a few of my ideas. Here's one that I think I'm going with to keep the original look of the cabinet, though proves no true function:

(CLICK TO SEE ANIMATED GIF)

 

[Noodleguitar]

Will the screen in that rotation work? Also if you ever want to go with 3 screens it might be difficult if you have to reconstruct the whole thing.

I'm sure excited to see the progress you'll make with this project.

 

[Daunt]

With the removal of the old screen, all that would be left is a clear plexiglass area where the screen was- which is what I drew in the sketch... it kinda makes it look like there is an actual screen there but that is not the case. It's more of a window to the old monitor which would be removed, made of plexiglass.

As for trips, I'm considering a few options. I won't reveal anything just yet, but under the premise of minimal changes, the best option would be to simply buy rift next year. But I do plan to make it work with trips in one way or another, as I currently run a 2 screen setup that is a must for me driving now.

 

[Daunt]

So stage 2, the removal of just about everything else with my good friend Josh, is complete. Here's some photos... next comes clean up and the more fun (but harder) parts:



Quite a task to remove the ancient technology of the CRT. Kinda made me want to use it for something fun for the upcoming Fallout 4 (Woohoo!). In the back you can see the game board which you can see detailed below...



Wasn't sure how this would come off but it ended up coming off perfectly thanks to Josh! This was important to the sliding up action I wanted to achieve (see above post) so it looked, when not in use, original.



Here you can see the dash and forward screen now that the CRT, wheel and game board have been removed.



The other side with the plastic seat cover removed. Look at that speaker! Pretty impressive surround sound emulation for back in the day. The hole is the removed shifter. It had a ton of coins in there, include a nickle from 1964. Love it. Still unsure how to approach the seat.



And the seat. Pretty simple. Again, I have quite a few options. As simple as relining that seat with cushion, or using that as a mold to make a more comfortable seat. Or removing the backing and fitting in rails and a real seat.

So awesome!

 

[Daunt]

Yet another update... A small one...

I can say with certainty that tear down / shelling of the cabinet is complete. Removed the rest of the wiring components, including what was hidden underneath. Found tons of spider eggs. Yuck. Use a sawzall to get rid off the old base for where the player would rest his legs. It would've probably been to short and too tough to work with.



The back of the cabinet.



Here's the current view from the "seat" You can see the bottom was cut away. Probably could fit the huge G27 base for the pedals down there but prefer to mount them inverted. But that gives us a lot more room. The dash was cut away entirely too. Will be putting a flat board to which the wheel will clamp on soon.



View through the back of the cabinet. I love that others will be able to "look over my shoulder" and watch the race.

Now to start the fun stuff. Already got 2 swiveling wall mounts for both my monitors. I'll mount them to both sides of the cabinet, which will allow me to really tweak the monitors to my liking, not to mention the ability to move them as close as I can for best FOV.

 

[Daunt]

Alright! So back to work after we got everything moved. I'm in overdrive mode trying to get this thing into something very usable by the end of this week. I was granted a boon with the weather/dynamic track bug, which forced the BES Monza race I missed to be thrown out to be later driven again.

So right now I'm working on assembling musts. I've been working at the monitor mount, and the all-important wheel mount.



Here's my corner of the basement. Very messy right now.



Last night I completed the monitor mount. It needs additional reinforcement. The lip sticks out a tad bit too far causing the board to flex a little. It seems just right in terms of distance to the driver, which is why I did it, but I'll have to address the flexing in the future. Probably will be ok for now.



Here it is with the wheel mounted. Looks perfect. As you might be able to see, the seat (the plastic covering) remains unchanged right now. I can deal with it for the moment but I plan to cut it out of the entirety of the seat from the plastic part (so the shifter setting and all is removed) and center mount the seat. As I said it's OK for the moment. You can also see I'm also still using just the regular pedals, I haven't yet removed them from the regular G27 floorboard and inverted them. For now it works perfectly as I figure out the distance I'd like the pedals at.



This is just an over the

shoulder shot inside the pit. I'm really excited at how much closer I've been able to move the wheel and how much closer the screens will be. Not deadly close but enough to make a large difference in my FOV.

Tonight I tackle the main monitor so that I can finally plug in my neglected PC and give it a run!​

 

[Noodleguitar]

Cool! I sure hope everything stays bolted together over the bumps at Road Atlanta . You might also want to use some cushions on the seat I think. Let's just say it doesn't look like a very comfortable endurance seat.

 

[ElektroVodka]

Cool! I sure hope everything stays bolted together over the bumps at Road Atlanta . You might also want to use some cushions on the seat I think. Let's just say it doesn't look like a very comfortable endurance seat.

Oh the harrasment Daunt's butt can take is unmeasurable!

 

[Daunt]

Oh the harrasment Daunt's butt can take is unmeasurable!

Hahah quick. Thanks for that. You always know how to make the pain go away too.

Cool! I sure hope everything stays bolted together over the bumps at Road Atlanta . You might also want to use some cushions on the seat I think. Let's just say it doesn't look like a very comfortable endurance seat.

It's not terrible. It has the makings of being nicely shaped and should be OK for now. It will of course need some sort of padding and I've been looking into it. I've thought about something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Thermo-Sensitive-Memory-Foam-Cushion/dp/B000XWJW6I/ref=pd_sim_sbs_121_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=104MHJ5N440HM1NR7R0C&dpID=41XfULqJFXL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160,160_ or simply getting padding and shaping it as best I can to my rear end. It would be awesome to make a custom seat for it, but probably out of my price range to get my butt molded.

 

[little P]

Good job Daunt, and to get to this point in the middle of a move and everything else is quite a thing, well done sir!

 

[Fromthenavy]

That's a wicked cool idea you got Kyle, excited to see how it turns out! Looking good so far

 

[Daunt]

Thanks guys!

One final update for a while. This is my setup for the next week or two. Probably until my next drop week (COTA). Not ideal... didn't finish the monitor mount but placed my secondary monitor directly behind the wheel on the base board and that will do for the time being.



Put in the framework and top parts of the dashboard. This includes the part that the old gameboard will rest on when not in use / playing retro MAME etc. So this is a little look at how it looks like when I'm not playing.



Since we did not get the monitor mount / swivel in, and I had to have my computer setup, I put my secondary monitor in action directly behind the wheel on the wheel mount for the time being. This won't be how I'll race in the near future, since the secondary monitor is quite a bit smaller than my main and when the main gets mounted, i'll be able to swivel it even closer to just behind the wheel and go over the top of the dash.

Right now the actual dash isn't in. I'm still deciding how / what I'll put there. If I won a button box it would be awesome. :icon_wink: But I'm thinking of utilizing the old RPM gauge and/or the boost gauge for aesthetics. I also have an old cellphone that I've already set up to use iRacing Fast Dashboard app.

So! Aside from a few minor adjustments, this is my rig for the moment and this is what I'm going to run in the BES this weekend. It's vastly different than what I'm used to racing in, the angle I sit at, the pedal position, the wheel distance. It's going to take some getting used to, but I'm thrilled.

 

[Daunt]

Just a small update (didn't end up taking any good photos) but managed to mount my main 24" monitor to the swivel bracket now and it works amazing. The pic above shows my 19" secondary monitor so it's a huge different, as it's about as close as I could possibly get to the wheel. It swivels out and in position, then if I want to go retro or stow it away, I can push the monitor forward, twist it 90 degrees so it's veritcal (like the game) and put the original arcade game board up. Will eventually be able to play Sega Turbo.

Here's the best shot I took, though even with flash it's not ideal.



I have a spare android phone that I downloaded FastDash to and got it working and mounted right behind the wheel and works real well.

Still plenty to do, next on the list will be the seat. I'll take some more pics tonight hopefully.

 

[Daunt]

Here's a crappy video showing where it currently stands (and my friends great driving in Dirt Rally)

[video=youtube;DNQ52u0WaX0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNQ52u0WaX0[/video]

The back window makes for awesome viewing over the shoulder. My friends and I had a few good dirt rally competitions. It's fun watching them suck horribly at it.

 

[Jerad]

that is pretty awesome Daunt. Do you have any pictures of the whole setup? I have a buddy that restores old cabinets and builds new ones as a hobby that I think would love to see this.

 

[Daunt]

Thanks! I'm waiting to do a few more things to it before I take better pictures and video. There's a lot to be done still. The dash is incomplete and I'd love the incorporate the phone I use as a shift / gauge panel permanently, and a major important task is somehow making a mouse stand and keyboard pullout type deal. I also kept the original Sega Turbo gauges that were in the dash and might throw 'em back on for looks, but they'd obviously be non-functional. I'm no elctromagician.

Right now, I have 2-3 wood clamps holding on a piece of wood that acts as a mouse stand currently. It is very ghetto-rigged. The keyboard literally just sits on my lap, so when not in use I put it underneath my legs at the base of the seat.

Next week I'll hopefully have something better to show off.

 

[Jeeve79]

Waaw that TURBO case is beautifull and captures the good old days of arcade racing perfectly. Very nice project! I am really curious to see what it looks like when it is done. I like it especially because its pure retro and old, not 90's or newer. If i was crafty and had the room like that i would use it as a base for a full on simrig. get H shifter and handbrake in there. And yes a good seat, hell, with a mouse and keyboard in there, i would hardly ever come out of the thing. Also mini surround speakers and butkicker would be cool in this. Amazing !!

 

[Shilka]

Looks great already Daunt! Now all you need is some boxing gloves so you can hit your friend in the face whenever he hits a rock in Dirt like that again XD