Jav's Budget Friendly Cockpit Build Thread

[Jav]

Hello and welcome to my Cheap Cockpit Build Thread!!
Ok! So my goals are simple, I want to build something sturdy, that will hold my monitor, wheel, PS3, reciever and speakers+subwoofer in one structure all of this for $150 US or less. So what best for inspiration than the VR3, I know it is a beautiful piece, but too expencive for me at this point. So I decided to go with a tubular design that will incorporate all of this desired features. And so it starts...

After a few weeks of looking arround, picturing designs in my head, and blah, blah, blah I finally got a design and got most of the materials for it.
So here it goes!

Here are the parts for my build:

Honda Prelude seat

3-1 /12" galvanized T's

2-1 1/2"x12" galvanized nipples

2-1 1/2"x8" galvanized nipples

2-1" galvanized nipples

2-1 1/2" rigid couplings

4-1" rigid couplings

2-90* 1" galvanized elbows

4-90*1" rigid elbows

1-10'x1 1/2" rigid conduit cut in half

2-90*1 1/2" aluminum angles

1-19"x48" 2024 aluminum sheet

1-45*1 1/2" rigid elbow

2-1 1/2" to 1 1/4" reduction bushings

2-1 1/4" to 1" reduction bushings

Ok! Now lets have some fun and do a mock-up assembly...

Ok, so there you got it! still to come:

Final steering wheel mock-up. Still undecided betwen polishing, painting matte black or pherhaps powdercoating, get the remaining pieces for the monitor support, cut braces for steering wheel tube, monitor bars, speakers and subwoofer...
Thank's for looking!
Javier.
Stay tuned, more updates in the coming weeks and hopefully it will be ready for GT5!!

 

[Jav]

Forgot to put prices up, so here we go again:
Seats $30 for the pair on craigslist to my surprise they are mint!

1 1/2" galvanized T's $6.86 x3= $17.69

1 1/2"x12" nipples $6.47 x2= $12.94

1 1/2"x8" nipple $4.89 x1= $4.89

1"x12" nipples $4.80 x2= $9.60

1" 90* galvanized elbows $3.14 x2= $6.28

1" rigid couplings $2.60 x4= $10.40

1 1/2" rigid coupling $3.29 x1= $3.29

1 1/2" to 1 1/4" bushings $3.80 x2= $7.60

1 1/4" to 1" bushings $3.21 x2= $6.42

1" 90* rigid elbows $5.22 x2= $10.44

1 1/2" 45* $10.88 x1= $10.88

19"x48"x.040" 2024 aluminum sheet x1= $11.00

1 1/2"x1/16"x48" aluminum angles $7.46 x2= $14.92

48 1/4"x21 1/2" .040" aluminum sheet for wing/speakers and steering tube posts= $12.00 from Alro Metals

Ok! so the total so far brings us up to $138.35. Still under budget and nearly finished, with some savyy shopping it should be finished under the desired budget! Can't wait to ordering my Carrera wheel next week!
Stay tuned for paint and final assembly!
Tell me what do you think and your suggestions!

 

[Ibonibo]

Need to say that building with those materials is a great idea and looks great 👍

 

[Radracing]

How are you going to stabilize the single pole that holds the wheel?

 

[Rotard12a]

Looks great! Very elegant shape, especially since it's made from tubing 👍

Still undecided betwen polishing, painting matte black or perhaps powdercoating

Just my opinion, but maybe a combination of polishing the tubes and powder coating the fittings would be nice. Could make it look very professional. The polishing would really highlight the materials and the powder coat would be easy to do on those rough T's and elbows.

Too bad the fittings aren't aluminum, would be expensive but imagine if you anodized them......

ohgod

 

[tinker]

Still undecided betwen polishing, painting matte black or pherhaps powdercoating

Hey! that looks really good Javier, good design

Polishing would look really good. This summer i constructed some metal plates with classic diamond thread for outdoor use. The plates were not new and quite oxidated.
I have one of those coarse rotator metal brushes to mount on a powerdrill for paint and rust removal. Using the brush on the thread plates gave them a nice rough/matte sheen.
I think maybe this method would give a nice surface to your setup.
How big is the monitor you plan on using on your cockpit?

 

[G27]

where did you buy these pieces?

 

[Jav]

How are you going to stabilize the single pole that holds the wheel?

The center tube is very sturdy, no play or wable at all, but anyways I plan on fabricating some curved sheet aluminum bracing similar to an airplane wing rib for the center tube, monitor tubes and subwoofer to rear speakers. Something similar to this but with some nice flowing curves:

Just my opinion, but maybe a combination of polishing the tubes and powder coating the fittings would be nice. Could make it look very professional. The polishing would really highlight the materials and the powder coat would be easy to do on those rough T's and elbows.

Too bad the fittings aren't aluminum, would be expensive but imagine if you anodized them......

It has definitely crossed my mind! what color you think would flow nice with the polished tubes?

I think maybe this method would give a nice surface to your setup.
How big is the monitor you plan on using on your cockpit?

That's a good idea, Scotch brite pads produce a similar finish to what you describe, so that's another posibility.
I plan on using a 32" monitor.

where did you buy these pieces?

The 1 1/2"x12" nipples, 1" 90* rigid and 1 1/2" 45* were bought on City Electric Suply, the aluminum sheet was bought in Alro Metals and everything else is straight out of The Home Depot.

 

[2JZFAN]

Very impressive budget build! 👍 Now I know where you've been off to while I'm trying to figure my seat railing issue I demand a change of title, there's nothing cheap about this build, it's Clever or Inexpensive.. nothing cheap about. well done Jav.

 

[Jav]

Lol!! Thank's man! So how's the railing solution coming along? Hope you find something soon!

 

[Radracing]

Yes, let me know when you actually have the wheel hooked up and playing GT5 to see how it holds up steady enough when you get those sudden evasive maneuvers and force feedback kicking in. Looks great so far, keep up the good work!

 

[Rotard12a]

It has definitely crossed my mind! what color you think would flow nice with the polished tubes?

Since I'm considering doing a build similar to yours, I threw together a model and rendered some different color schemes:

Polished & Anodized Red

Polished & Anodized Blue

Matte Black

Matte Black & Paint/Powder Red

Polished & Paint/Powder Racing Green

Polished & Paint/Powder Orange

Polished & Paint/Powder Black

Rosewood & Tan Leather

 

[2JZFAN]

Well done Rotard

Lol!! Thank's man! So how's the railing solution coming along? Hope you find something soon!

I think I'll be able to sort it out with a few angle brackets from 8020.. I hope so too, I'd hate to get 90% of the way only to mess up mounting the seat. We're both cutting these cockpits kinda close to release IMO, I'm glad to see you making such progress.

 

[Ibonibo]

looks good Rotard12a

3 suggestions:
- don't forget to add a plate for the pedals so you could hard mount them.
- i would put the wheel support a bit up
- instead of a plate between the legs you could use a reverse U to stabilze the whole...

just suggestions

 

[Jav]

Since I'm considering doing a build similar to yours, I threw together a model and rendered some different color scheme:



Matte Black

Matte Black & Paint/Powder Red

Hey those look great man! I'm liking more and more the black ones!

I think I'll be able to sort it out with a few angle brackets from 8020.. I hope so too, I'd hate to get 90% of the way only to mess up mounting the seat. We're both cutting these cockpits kinda close to release IMO, I'm glad to see you making such progress.

I know what you mean man, but your plans are looking good! I think I just cutted it too close, don't think my wheel will be here on time... But no biggie, I can wait a little if it means getting the combination that works for me, hell might even wait a couple of weeks and get a GT3RS-CS instead of the Carrera, will see...

 

[Jav]

Ok, small update for today:

Well decided to trace and cut the template desings for the support braces today...
So went to Waltmart and got me 3 posterboards for 38 cents each, broke out the tape measure, tape and sharpie and went at it!

Ok, so after tracing and real real careful cutting this is what I have:

Ok, so now just have to find the proper aluminum sheet, transfer this templates and incorporate the lightening holes to them!
Stay tuned for more! Thank's for looking!

 

[Jav]

Ok! Got a small update for the night, got the wing/speaker posts done tonight.

And here's a mockup to get an idea of what are they gonna look like:

Hope you like it! I wanna read your feedback and sugestions!
Thank's for looking!

 

[2JZFAN]

Look at you getting all crafty! Your cockpit might be considered art when you're done. I look forward to seeing thing fill in, so far very good. 👍

 

[Jav]

Small update... Finally decided to go the polished way, so got started today and got about 35% done. Here's a shot of the seteering tube done, it's hard to apreciate from this shot so sorry for the crappy iphone pics...

 

[blackblade]

Cool, I'm watching this one!

 

[Jav]

Thank's man! Stay tuned for more pics coming during the week, I'm expecting to have it done by Friday!

 

[Goldfingiz]

This is awesome so far, looking forward to seeing more!

 

[MMeglen]

You have 2 days!!! Looks really nice so far.

 

[Jav]

You have 2 days!!! Looks really nice so far.

Thank's man! The rig will probably be ready by Fryday but my wheel won't get here till next week... Doing the support plates for the steering today, so expect a small update tonight!

 

[mgaffar]

Hey Jav,

Im 100% sure im going to copy your design on the cock pit. Its amazingly simple, and looks very nice. I got a question for you, how do you plan on mounting the steering wheel and also the shifter. I was looking at your design and was a little stumped as to how you were going to manage this.

Thanks,
MO

 

[Jav]

Going to attach a piece of 90* angled aluminum to each side of the tubing wich will serve as a mount for the base plate of the wheel itself. Shifter, still a bit undecided, most likely a base coming out of the steering supports, perhaps it will be more clear when I get the pics up...
That's the purpose of the build man something simple, good looking and cheap so anyone can replicate it!

 

[mgaffar]

thanks for the answers, one more question... How will you attach the braces(the piece with the swiss cheese holes) to the steering wheel bar? Will you weld it?

 

[Jav]

Nope, no welding on this project everything is strictly bolted together, they will be bolted to the floor pan and to the steering tube...

 

[FN]

That looks great! The finished product will be amazing considering how good it looks atm.
Thanks for linking me here, i never really considerd what your doing but who knows i might just have to "borrow" your idea's

 

[Jav]

Ok! so here's the small update of the night, got the remining sheet metal cutting/fabricating done.

Now what's left is finish the polishing, final assembly, order my wheel on the afternoon(hopefully), pick my copy of GT5 up in the morning and start enjoing this thing when my wheel gets here!