Malti27 - DIY Racing Cockpit! ((!!!!Project Ready (See Page 2)!!!!))

  • Thread starter SchuMito
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SchuMito

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Malti27
Here I go guys!

First of all I'm from Malta, a small island in the Mediterranean (Europe). I have 24 years old and bought my first ever playstation, the PS3, to play GT5. Finally, it is going to be released :) Anyways... after months of thinking, mind designing, mind projecting, and after hours browsing in this forum... I've bought the material, and kicked off building my cockpit.

The design is partly inspired by ericleroi's cockpit and partly by chilicoke's. However, I will put in my personal touch :) The Steering installed will be a Logitech G25.

At first, I was going to re-build the cockpit like I did with the my first one (ie: building from wood also the actual seat) but after hours of browsing the internet, and looking in shops, I bought a seat for Eur 110.



When I came to choose the material, I've decided to go with Austrian Pine Wood and White Wood Beams for support. Pine is relatively cheap and easy to work with.



I will be showing bit by bit how I am building this Racing Cockpit. I intend to have this project finished by end of August so... stay updated with this thread.

Today I've cut the first three pieces out of the pine sheet. These are the first 3 pieces of the main 5 to construct the base for the actual seat.



I will not have much time tomorrow to work on the cockpit but if I manage to put something together, I will definitely post the updates. Everybody feel free to post your thoughts!! :)
 
Last edited:
Awaiting an update!... Will soon be starting one myself, so I'm stealing all the inspiration I can - Thanks 👍
 
Nice seat, a good reason to start building a super cockpit:tup:!

I suppose that you are going to build your cockpit on that wooden platform. I would prefer to build it as a (wooden) frame based one (see here), it would be much lighter (transposition)…

It would be nice if you could give a sketch (draft) of the one you are planning to build!

Good luck with your project:dopey:, I always enjoy watching this stuff!
 
Here we go Guys... this is the Second Update.

Today I've done quite a good chunk of work on the Racing Seat. It is incredible how time consuming some simple things turn out to be.

I've finished cutting out the pieces of wood to make out the sides of the seat. One of the left side is higher than the right side since on this side I have to attach the shifter.



Than I've used my Router (its like my child) and I have rounded all the edges... it makes it nicer and you don't risk a bruise or a cut with sharp edges.



Than I've continued to dismantle my old Racing Seat and took its "Chassis" (the frame). You know, wood is expensive. It is useless to throw it away especially if you can recycle it!! The paint will be covered over again, so there will be no carnival looking colors.



Than I have attached the sides of the base of the seat to the chassis. For re-enforcement I have recycled some beams of wood so to have larger support for the seat. This will prevent the wood from bending with my weight (71Kgs) :)





This is it for today... updates to follow tomorrow (most probably). Any questions, feel free to ask.

@ Mars Attacks... I tried doing a draft for you... but I ended up looking at what I had drawn and it wasn't really helpul. Sorry Mate!
 
Looking really good mate! I like that you're recycling your old project and encorperating it into this one!
Like the seat too, Looks very nice.

Paul;)
 
Update 3 Guys...

This is turning out to be a nightmare to be sincere. It is taking me way a lot of time than I taught of... anyways... this is where I have arrived for now...

I have managed to construct the base for the shifter... quite complex for a base, but let's call it just a base for now.



Also constructed the base for the reverse mounted pedals, simplest job of them all to be sincere.



This is the picture for the seat attached to the base. I had to attach it so to work all the Racing Seat around the actual seat.



And finally, I started doing the design for the side of the racing seat. This will act as both an aesthetically good looking side, so to hide all the wiring etc, and also as the support for the actual pedals and wheel.



As you can see in the image, there are some lines to trace the design. Now I will transfer those lines to a cardboard, cut out the template, and cut out the wood again.

As said, this is taking me a lot of time to build, but hopefully this will be finished (or the biggest part of it finished) until I go on holiday by the end of next week... which is quite improbably :)

Will keep you posted guys, in the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts!
 
Looking very nice mate 👍

A lot of effort has gone into that shifter base hasn't it (and it shows)? It is very time consuming but the results speak for themselves 👍:)
 
Awesome build so far mate best home built cockpit ive found anywhere on the net, signed up to this site just to post on this lol. Was wondering if theres anyway i could get a template off ya with measurements and dimensions u have used. Anyway keep up the good work cant wait to see finished project :)
 
All

I've been to London on holiday for the past week hence build off has stopped for some time now. I will be resuming very soon my build off.

To: marbz:

I will be giving you the dimensions mate but I need some time :)
 
SchuMito could you please explain more on reversing the pedals ?
Maybe some pictures + instructions ?...:scared:
What pedals are these ? they look solid... - are these club sport pedals ? the spring on your picture looks very solid - haven't seen any like that earlier on fanatec page...
 
Guys... I have been without PC for the past week so I cannot post any pics (I'm posting this from work). The work on the cockpit has been advancing, I will post some pictures and updates hopefully later on this week.

@ Lotrzyna

Those are Logitech G25 Pedals, reverse mounted. To disassemble and re-assemble I followed chillicoke's explanation. Go to www.chilicoke.com - the guy is great for these things.
 
Guys, my laptop is back from formatting, hence I can upload some new pics and update you on my progress.

Basically the build is moving, even if it is moving at a damn slow pace I have to admit. Things turn out to be a little bit difficult sometimes when it comes to work out how to place in all the wires so they are not visible and how to work out the structure to to be solid but at the same time without having any screws visible from the outside.

Basically I have cut out the sides and the middle panels and have started attaching all together, while routing edges (for neatness sake and to give a good look) and routing groves where wiring will go in.

Some pictures of the build...



The Side Panels



Starting Assembly of pieces and parts.









Trying the wheel on.

As you can see, I'm quite behind, especially when I still need to start sanding down some parts of the build and I have to modify other parts due to some wrong measurments taken (for some strange reason, these things do happen).

What's next in this order:

Finish the actual wood working process.
Sand Down
Paint
Install Leather Finishes
Install the carpet
Install the G25
Decorate the seat

As you can see from my list - quite a long way to go.

Will keep you posted. Keep posting comments so I'll keep my morale up and keep on working :) Thanks guys!
 
I love the curves! That's the big advantage of working with wood rather than steel. At the rate you're going I think it might even look better than chilicoke's!!
 
Thats really coming out well. I enjoy the curvy design...very fluid. Good job.

After building my cockpit and then looking at ones like this I am inspired to build another. Maybe a few years from now.
 
Update time guys... this time is a small update.

Basically, the construciton stage is over. I have sanded down all the parts, bits and pieces of the racing rig and now it is ready for paint. It will be painted in Flat Black however the final cockpit colors will be in Black, Red & Some white touches.

Here are the pictures for all bits and pieces ready for paint:

The Main Chasis, complete with the proper seat stand. Now it has been mounted with wheels for easy move around since the rig turned out to be quite heavy.


The Shifter stand. I've done some mods from the last picture I had posted of it. Now it has a cup holder in it, I have shortened it down and filled all the gaps with filler.


The Rig front. On this part wheel and the pedals (inverted) will be mounted. I have routed the right hand side so to have a place where to hide the wiring from the shifter to the wheel.


This is the face on which the actual wheel will be mounted. The hole in the centre of the wood is where all the wires will go in and out of the wheel. I have not sanded this down as this will all be covered in leather.


This is the last part. This is the cover that will go on the front side of the rig. If you see the third picture you will notice that it has no front cover. Basically this is the front cover. All the wirings will be hidden behind the pedals and this piece of wood will cover everything. If you notice, there are three wide stripes... well, those will be colored... and a nice handcrafted emblem will go next to them. The emblem is the badge of the most prestigious car manufacturer in the world. Although the emblem is done and crafted, I will not post it untill it is painted and installed :) So be patient... :)



That's for today. When the construction is ready (so I'll have my mind more free) I will post all the measurments and dimensions.

Stay tuned :)
 
Last Update on the Seat guys... yes it is, the racing seat is ready :)

Basically as I told you in the last update, I started painting it in flat black.























(Yeap, I know it is the millionth time I'm posting this side, but I love it) :)





^ That's me doing some vacum cleaning of the carpet :)























Hope you like the GT logos :)



I've worked out this so with just one usb, I have both the G25 and the headphones connected to the PS3. If I decide to buy the PS Eye I can attach it to the same USB Hub as the hub has 4 ports.







This is all guys.. after 2 months building, and some 3 months planning, this is the final result. Hope you like it (I DO) - now I'm ready for F1 2010, and as obvious, Gran Turismo 5.

I will post the measurments soon since some of you asked me. Feel free for any questions. Thanks Guys.
 

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