First Big Boy Rig Planning

[Clover11]

I have been doing some sim racing for a while now but I have never had a gaming computer before and have just used more consumer gear and consoles. Fortunately, I can now afford to spend a little money on my hobby and take it up a notch or two from the playseat and old Logitech wheel I thought was pretty great 10 or so years ago. I'm really excited to get a gaming computer and really get into the sim more then the simcades I am more familiar with. I'd love feedback before I spend what is a pretty decent amount of money for me.

First off, I'm doing this for fun. Ideally I want to increase the immersion so it is more enjoyable for me. I don't need things to be perfect and I will never be the fastest, but I want to have fun and play with all things automotive and for it to feel as close to a real car as possible within reason. I have not done much online racing, partially because it is kind of a mess on consoles and partially because I don't have a community. I think I am going to join a league though and I am looking forward to having a consistent group to race with.

Budget has grown to ~$5K + Computer
Have Fanatec CSL LC pedals, shifter, handbrake

Cockpit: Simlab P1-X or DOF Reality H3
Part of me thinks I should go with a stiff chassis that I can customize as needed which leads me to the P1-X. A larger and growing side of me wants motion on a budget. I can't see myself spending the money a D-box system or PT-Actuator system costs anytime soon, but a cockpit and motion for $2K? I am a little worried about getting what I pay for and see some negative reviews but not a ton. I know the DOF Reality H3 is not very stiff or smooth, but I think it would still be fun. Also, losing some feeling in the wheel but getting more feedback from motion seems like a good tradeoff to me at the moment. I have never tried a motion system before so I don't really know. My current playset cockpit's flex in the pedal plate does bug me a lot and I worry I might spend $2K on the rig and then decide to go with an 80/20 rig to get rid of flex, making the H3 a complete loss. But with being more concerned with having fun then being fast, maybe it is fine for me

Seat: Staring off with a vintage Kirky high back race seat. It's what I'm using in the car I'm building (Factory Five Cobra Daytona Coupe) and I think it will be cool to have the same seat in my rig. I hate the playseat that I have now which makes my back sweat more then Johnny Depp in a recovery meeting.

Triple monitor stand and 3 27" 1080 monitors:
I have had to have cataract surgery on both eyes and have artificial lenses in my eyes that keep me from focusing on anything within about 16" so I don't think VR will work for me though I have not tried it. So I think triples are for me though VR seems great. Tempted to go 1440 but from my understanding that takes a fairly powerful CPU/GPU and I'm not sure a AMD5600X and mid level GPU can handle it.

Wheel base/wheel: Thinking of SimuCube 2 Pro or possibly Fanatec DD1
My CSL Elite base has worked pretty well for me but I don't like the notchyness you can feel sometimes and the rattle that gets transmitted from some effects. The rattling and notchyness make it apparent that I am not driving a real car and I am more looking to improve the smoothness then anything else. This is about better immersion for me as I don't think I will have the force turned up super high but want it to feel as close to a real car as possible. Not sure on wheel rim yet, but I will want a circular wheel. Considering the Accurforce V2 at about half the price as well but it sounds like the simucube is smoother.

Tactile feedback: Buttkicker Gamer II
Never tried these before but the concept seems great to me. I would love the gear cluck, engine rumble, etc.

There is an a lot of info out there and I am doing a lot of reading and Youtube watching but I can't read it all. Anyone want to steer the new guy in the right direction or at least keep me from stepping in it.? I appreciate all the knowledge and feedback.

 

[stigs2cousin]

You are fortunate to "wohnnen im Deutschland" where Recaros are from! Great fixed seat choice. Your Recaro Pole Position is $1050-1200 USD in the U.S.

What??

The street version of the Pole Position (streetlegal with a bit of work) starts at about 700 Euros which is about 830 Dollars.

Hope you find your fit!!

MFG Carsten

 

[Ruttman98]

What??

The street version of the Pole Position (streetlegal with a bit of work) starts at about 700 Euros which is about 830 Dollars.

Hope you find your fit!!

MFG Carsten

See--local cost of Recaros is a benefit along with Motedis aluminum t-slot extrusions to offset European VAT.

 

[Clover11]

I ended up buying a RaceTech RT1000 locally. It seems to fit me the best and is very comfortable for me. The seat brackets I got from Sim-Labs were not wide enough for the side mounts, so I did need to drill new holes. The seat sliders have been a pain for me to install and the bar popped off one of the tabs last night, so that is back to nonfunctional. Should have known better then the buy cheap seat sliders with three steps to the install with one of those steps being, "Bend to fit." I have spent more time of that then I would like to admit. Finally got it working pretty late last night but this morning one of the tabs popped back off. Pretty frustrating. I'm sure someone with more skills could toss it together quick, but it has been a real annoying process for me and I just can't quite get it all right.

I also found that the triple monitor mount I got from Sim-Labs was missing 8 countersunk bolts I need to mount the VESE mounts. Looks like they sent me the bolt for a single monitor mount though I bought the triples. I emailed them but have not herd back yet. My monitors came yesterday, but I guess I am stuck for now.

 

[Fennario]

1. Get the sliders with the wire connection vs. the bar you have to bend. Much easier to make work with wider seats.

2. I went with the Sparco EVO XL and have been very happy with it.

3. May be able to find some equivalent bolts at your local hardware store. PITA, but may be better than waiting for an international shipment.

4. Congrats on your set-up and looking forward to hearing more!

 

[Clover11]

Yeah, plan to head to the hardware store tomorrow to see if I can get short little countersunk bolts that will fit. I'm not sure they will have what I need but worth a quick check.

I think I am going to make my own bar for the sliders too. I was actually thinking of just making a basic rectangle out of PVC pipe with a couple of slots I can screw in and out in the middle to allow me to expand the rectangle onto the tabs. Seem simple in my head, but we will see if it works. It will only cost me a couple bucks and I would love to toss that bar I have now bent to hell.

 

[Clover11]

Sim-Labs has now shipped me the missing bolts. Glad to report a quick response from them.

 

[prceurope]

Before you buy the Buttkicker Gamer II, make sure you know how you're going to mount it. I have two Gamer 2's that I was using on my old Playseat rig. Now that I've got the P1-X, I'm at a loss as to how to mount them to the rig. (I'll be doing a complete overhaul of my tactile, but that's 6 months down the road or so).

I went with the SC2 Pro. Never owned the Fanatec DD base, so I can't compare the two. But I've been happy so far with the SC2.

I also have a Buttkicker Gamer 2, and a Sim Lab GT-1 Evo. I am thinking of mounting the Buttkicker Gamer 2 onto a piece of 40/20, as it looks like the clamp will fit.

If anyone has any DIY tricks for mounting the Buttkicker Gamer 2 onto a Sim Lab rig, please let me know.

Thanks!

 

[stigs2cousin]

Hy Clover,

seems to come together nicely.

Do the he teething problems remind you of anything ( rhymes on pit bar )

After a little study I thing you might get your wheel on the quick release without tapping, just use the included "star" adapter.
That´s what I will try when my SC2 Pro arrives (hopefully) next week.
( YES, I had a Black Friday meltdown )

Now i have to build at least one 3drap Wheel which is already ordered and convince my friend to
mill me an front plate for mounting.
(Which will be achieved, just add beer)

Hope you will drive soon,

MFG Carsten

 

[stigs2cousin]

According the wheel rim, its quite easy to attach just the rim to the Simucube quick release, in this case I would drill/tab the quickrelease,
not the steering wheel for your rl car. The wheel side part is not that expensive and it´s not spoilt for another wheel only because it has some more threads in it. Guys building a kitcat can´t be fabrication averse

Well,
I found out today that it is not as easy as I hoped.

At least for a 70mm pcd the base side mount is to small.
You could screw the "star adapter" to the base side mount, but it has no threads in it.
I don´t want to insert helicoils, so tomorrow the backside will be countersunk and the wheel fixed with nuts.

BUT!!

thats only a problem because my "drifting wheel" is dished and I want to have all my wheels in the same reach, that is distance to me.

If your wheel is flat you can just screw everything together, all threads are already there.

MFG Carsten

 

[Clover11]

Yeah, I did a little looking at it and I think I can make it work like you said, but I put that aside for now.

The Momo wheel I got was not drilled, so I drilled it to the 70mm pattern. Ended up sending a shocking amount of time on it because you need to be sure to have it centered. Tried a paper template at first, but it was hard to tell when that was centered. I ended up scratching a circle into the back with my caliper, then I put my template back over with the holes cut out and lined each up with the scratched circle and got that marked up. I kept readjusting to try and make it perfect but was eventually happy. This is about when I learned my drill press is not wide enough for a wheel, so I had to go at it with a power hand drill. I used a punch before drilling, but the drill bit still wanted to walk on me drilling the holes, and as a result, two of them are a bit off, which really frustrated me. I spent tons of time making sure I got everything lined up, then let myself down at the very end. In retrospect, I should have drilled smaller wholes first, then expanded them so the larger bit would not walk at the start. I could probably drill the hole out a bit more or use a smaller diameter bolt and be okay, but I just left the bolts out for now. You don't really need 6 mounting points for the dang wheel anyways but the two empty holes in my wheel mock me when I look at it. But, that is the way it goes sometimes. I'll do better next time.

Just finished solving another set of problems that took me too long. That dang cheap seat slider that you need to bend to fit. Yeah, I bent that thing to hell and it did not fit great. Just finished pulling it out and redoing it and it is actually functional now.

Plus, one of my seat side mounting holes threads were no good and I could not get a bolt into it. I thought I did not have the right size tap to retap the hole at first, but it turns out the bolt I had be using to check for thread depth was gummed up making me think I needed a tap size I did not have. Turns out it was a standard M8 1.25 thread and I'm and idiot testing with a screwed up bolt. Anyways, got that retapped and the seat fully mounted now.

For a guy building my own car, I sure seem to take a while to accomplish some of this stuff which in my mind seemed straightforward. I would have thought this would have taken me way less time then it actually has.

 

[Clover11]

I'm not familiar with hilicoils but I had a thought of using nutserts on the adapter so I would not need bolts on the back. They are like pop rivets but have female threads on the end that you can the screw a bolt into. Maybe that is what helicoils are and it is just a name I have not seen before. The reason I decided against this was that I did not think I could get them flush like we need. The nutserts I have used in the past stick out just a bit from what you insert them in and I think it needs to be perfectly flush on that adapter.

 

[Tom_Hampton]

I'm not fermiliare with hilicoils but I had a thought of using nutserts on the adapter so I would not need bolts on the back. They are like pop rivets but have female threads on the end that you can the screw a bolt into. Maybe that is what helicoils are and it is just a name I have not seen before. The reason I decided agaist this was that I did not think I could get them flush like we need. The nutserts I have used in the past stick out just a bit from what you insert them in and I think it needs to be perfectly flush on that adapter.

Helicoil:

https://www.grainger.com/product/4DCN9?gclid=CjwKCAiAiML-BRAAEiwAuWVggmZ0Hy7QXFRxZbt3BcVE0OFxeF2gOoH37giB4Ae7xTJJyF0nNqcieBoC41IQAvD_BwE&cm_mmc=PPC:+Google+PLA&ef_id=CjwKCAiAiML-BRAAEiwAuWVggmZ0Hy7QXFRxZbt3BcVE0OFxeF2gOoH37giB4Ae7xTJJyF0nNqcieBoC41IQAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!2966!3!281698275324!!!g!471571631001!&gucid=N:N:PS:Paid:GGL:CSM-2295:4P7A1P:20501231

 

[stigs2cousin]

I may have gone the Helicoil route if I had them handy.
But I´m not going to buy a set for this. They cost the same as the whole qr kit .

And yes, starting with a smaller hole is best practice .
I personally wouldn´t use a bigger drill bit but a needle file to "adjust" the hole:

https://www.amazon.com/Hardened-Strength-Barrette-Crossing-Equaling/dp/B07PPYWSCY/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=needle+files&qid=1607568026&sr=8-5le

.

Should be covered by the bolt head so nobody notices and we won´t snitch

MFG Carsten

 

[stigs2cousin]

Had another Idea tonight.

In order not to fabricate on the QR i will fabricate a spacer that will make roon for nuts.
So the wheel side will only show the bolt heads, between "star piece" and QR a 9mm spacer will make room for the nuts.
Actual plan is to get a hole saw tomorrow and just cut it from a plastik sheet I have in my workspace.
lets see if it works.

MFG Carsten

 

[stigs2cousin]

The plan worked out fine, just drove the first (online) trackday with my dished OMP.
I didn´t have to alter a thing at the Simucube quick release, just fabricate the spacer and use slightly longer bolts with nuts.
The difference in reach is minimal, I changed wheels during the trackday and it was no problem.

MFG Carsten

 

[Clover11]

The plan worked out fine, just drove the first (online) trackday with my dished OMP.
I didn´t have to alter a thing at the Simucube quick release, just fabricate the spacer and use slightly longer bolts with nuts.
The difference in reach is minimal, I changed wheels during the trackday and it was no problem.

MFG Carsten

Awesome, post up a picture when you get a moment. I'd be interested in seeing the adapter you made.

 

[stigs2cousin]

Nothing to fancy, just around piece of plastic with four holes to put bolts through.
Doesn´t need aerospace tolerances.

Took about 20 minutes to make but only because I made coffee inbetween to let the holesaw cool down.
It was about o melt the plastic.

MFG Carsten