My Modified GT Omega Rig

[Alexander McKenzie]

I have had a GT Omega rig for about a year now and have made quite a few mods to it. It is a very good pre built rig as a base for further modification. I have kept a sort of diary about the things I have done to it and thought I might post it here for others to see. I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

So here is the start of my diary dating back to April 2012:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I recently bought a GT Omega Racing Cockpit but I couldn't get comfortable using my G25 pedals in the default position on it. So I thought I would try and invert / reverse mount them. I am certainly not a craftsman and this was very much a ghetto mod but I am very pleased with the results.

I used scrap wood that was destined for the fire to build a backing to mount the pedals to. I cut two legs from an old table and screwed them to the pedal base of the GT Omega using the two mounting slots. As luck would have it (or perhaps the GT Omega guys designed it that way) this gave me a very nice angle.

I then screwed a rectangular piece of wood to the two table legs. From this point I attached the pedals. I also drilled a hole for each of the pedals cables to come through from behind.

Next I drilled a hole through each of the table legs and put a screw through them in order for me to tie a rope to the base which I attached to the metal frame for extra stability.

It works really well and is very solid. And very ghetto!

I plan on dissembling it all to paint the wood black so if you would like any additional photos I can take them for you.

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

I had a spare bit of carpet lying around so thought I would use it to cover the wood. I also increased the angle of the accelerator pedal to make it more comfortable for me as I was getting a sore ankle after a while. Increasing the angle was not enough to alleviate the pain so I also inserted some 5 pence coins inside the spring to reduce the travel of the pedal. This has made it much more comfortable for me and it also has the benefit of making it quicker to get on the power!

I also came across a cheap pair of Aura bass shakers on ebay. I attached the 2 Bass Shakers underneath the seat using another piece of scrap wood. I had to drill 4 extra holes into the metal frame to attach the wood. It all feels very solid which I'm happy about.

I added a couple of female banana plugs so I could easily disconnect the speaker wires when I'm not using the cockpit. This saves having wires trailing over the floor.

I added 2 rubber washers and one metal spring washer to each bolt that attaches the seat to the frame of the cockpit. I am hoping that this will allow the seat to vibrate more.

I also bought the thickest length of pipe insulating foam B&Q sell. I cut this up and fitted it to the bottom of the frame to lift it from the floor. Hopefully this will stop the vibrations being heard downstairs.

I haven't actually had a chance to use the bass shakers yet as I'm still waiting for the amp to arrive. Can't wait!

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

Well I tried the bass shakers and they were disappointing for games. I don't think it was the bass shakers fault but more that the games I play aren't optimised for them. They work great for movies though!

Anyway, continuing my quest for comfort, the stock GT Omega seat had to go. It was killing my back after about an hour of use.

I had a look online for aftermarket bucket seats but with prices starting around the £200 mark and no way to test for comfort I quickly ruled them out.

Luckily I live near U-Pull-It in Inverkeithing so was able to go down there and try out loads of different seats from real cars. Having heard that some of the most comfortable seats were made by SAAB I got myself a nice full leather seat from a 9-5 for just £24!

Unfortunately after getting it home I noticed it had the smell of 10 years of wet dog! Bummer. I went back again to U-Pull-It and got myself another non smelly seat from a Honda Civic. I actually prefer this seat to the 9-5 as you get sweaty in a leather seat after a while. Not so with the fabric Honda seat. It also has forward and back adjust-ability as well as up and down. Best of all, because it wasn't leather it only cost £18!

Because the holes of the Honda seat didn't line up with the GT Omega frame I bought myself a bit of MDF so that I could sandwich it between the frame and seat allowing me to bolt it together. I painted the MDF black and Robert's your Dad's brother.

My next mod will probably be to get a Fanatec CSR wheel to replace the G25.

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

I have now swapped the G25 for a Fanatec GT3. It is a big improvement in both feel and force feedback. If I lock the wheels up in iRacing the hole rig shakes! I love it.

Also, the Alcantara! Feels really nice.

I had to remove the mod I made to the accelerator pedal to make the travel shorter as it was messing with the wheel calibration. I also wrapped all the cables in plastic tubing. Makes it look pretty tidy.

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

I have discovered that you can get an app that allows you to send keyboard commands to your computer. This app also allows you to create custom buttons. The app is called All in one remote. I used this app to create a "touch screen button box" for Project C.A.R.S.

It works great but I had no where to put it so I made a little stand for it out of scrap MDF, some glue and cable ties.

I plan on wrapping it in fabric. Hopefully I can get some Alcantara to match the wheel.

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

Going to get some fabric for the phone holder tonight so I thought I would dismantle it and sand it down.

I also decided to make a little mouse pad as well:

The two attachments have been painted and a mouse mat glued to the mouse pad.

This is how they fit together:

And here are the finished phone and mouse holders attached to the cockpit:

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

I decided I wanted a button box so instead of buying one I thought I would make one myself. It has 10 push buttons and 3 toggle switches. The toggle switches can have 2 functions assigned to each one. 16 buttons in total. Carbon fibre vinyl on the face. Plug and play USB.

Here it is:

I needed something to mount it to my rig so I also made this:

I also put some velcro over the mouse to stop it falling off the mouse pad due to the force feedback of the wheel. And this is what it looks like all put together:

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

Keeping to the DIY spirit I took another trip to U-Pull-It at Inverkeithing with the Wife. She helped me to pull this out of an Alfa Romeo 156:

It is a Selespeed sequential gear lever. It was a bugger to get out of the car but the struggle was worth it as it has a very nice shift action. Up, down and also reverse. I've ordered the parts I need to transform it into a nice sequential gear stick for my cockpit.

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

I thought this would be a relatively simple mod. Oh boy was I wrong.
I am using a cheap gamepad PCB as the controller for the gearstick. When I attached the wires that were originally on the gearstick to the gamepad it wouldn't work.
So I thought I would take a look inside the gearstick to see what was wrong. The only problem with that is that the gearstick is secured using some sort of security rivets. My power drill didn't even dent them. The only other thing I could do would be to get the hack saw out.
The gearstick must be made out of the hardest plastic in the world as it took me 3 hours to cut the rivets out. Once in I rewired the switches and soldered it all up.
It works! (Touch wood!)
It now looks a bit like a bomb!
Next step is to pretty it up a bit by building a box to house it.

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

A couple of photos of the box the gear stick is going to be housed in. I think I will paint the sides black and use some Di-Noc I have lying around for the center. I'm going to put some more buttons on the sloped piece on the front of the box.

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

Gearstick glued to the base. Some glue ran Nothing a bit of sand paper and some more paint won't fix though!
It really does look like a bomb now!

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

Here it is with the lid on.

I think I will christen it "The Tank". It has that look about it and is also very sturdy and solid. It has a nice weight too. Just as well I am using iron rods to mount it. The shift action is superb. So much better than the G25 shifter that is for sure!

The lip at the front has a purpose too which I will show soon.

I plugged it back into the computer and it is still working (Touch wood again!).

I have ordered some more buttons, switches and a couple of rotary encoders for the front of the gear stick. Once those arrive I should be able to finish it.

I'll also need to see about getting a knob

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

Just about finished now. It has taken me a lot longer than planned. Lots of small fiddly bits. I am still waiting on the buttons for the gearbox. I ordered them from eBay. The seller stated they were based in Bristol but I later discovered they order everything from Hong Kong and have it delivered to their base in the UK (supposedly). Won't be using them again.
The lip I mentioned earlier I transformed into a holder for my phone. Covering it in Di Noc was tricky but I think it turned out well.
I also made another part to hold the button box. Both the gear box and button box are held onto the rig using 4 threaded iron rods. It is all rock solid.
My gear knob has arrived but I am waiting until the buttons also arrive before fitting it.

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

Here is a photo of the inside of the gear stick for anyone that is curious.

Almost finished...

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

Well I think I have finished making the gear stick. I wanted to use 3 rotary encoders on it. I waited 2 weeks on them being shipped from Hong Kong and when they arrived found they wouldn't work correctly with the game pad. It would register both directions at the same time when you turned the dial. So I scrapped that idea and used 3 toggle switches instead.
I have added some labels to the buttons which I like the look of. I bought a gear knob for it but I'm not sure if I like the look of it. I also have the original Alfa Romeo knob so I might still use that.
Next job is to mount it and tidy the cables a bit. I have also done a couple of more modifications around the button box which I will post photos of soon.

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

I have mounted the gearstick to the rig.

This little toggle switch underneath the button box switches on and off a USB light I have placed above the button box:

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

I bought a couple of lengths of steel flat bar to tighten the whole rig up. Without these the wheel, gearstick and button box shake quite a bit when the force feedback is giving it some welly. Now it doesn't move at all. Not a bad mod for only £7. GT Omega should think about adding something similar as standard as it makes a big difference.

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

Here is a photo with all the rigs lights on:

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

I added another gear knob:

I've started another little project.
I took delivery of a 3 meter length of Unistrut today and a couple of 45 degree brackets. My god that is some heavy duty stuff! Weighs a ton.
This is the result of todays work:

 

[Alexander McKenzie]

I have now just about finished the triple screen monitor mount! Just in time for Xmas! All that is left is to attach the other two monitors. It can easily slide across the desk as I attached felt to the bottom. I also painted it black to improve the aesthetics.