2017 Mustang V8 Supercar Control Chassis Build

[SOUTHROD]

Hi all, after posting a few pics in the show us your Cockpit thread,it was suggested i do a separate thread on the build of my 2017 mustang Control Chassis build.
So a bit of background on me,I own a Hot Rod and Custom car fabrication Business in Australia and have been a Sim enthusiast for a few years, having put together a
stage 4 Simxperience Platform,that I got to a point that I could go no further with it and hence was born the idea to build my idea of an ultimate Sim Platform.
so this one started in my mind long before I sold the Simxperience platform and was slowly designed and built from a Cad Model into what it is now.
Firstly I got together as much info and pics of the Current Aussie V8 Supercar Control Chassis cars as I could and began drawing up my version of it and trying to incorporate as much as I could to be as close as possible to the actual car,having a 2017 Mustang GT myself allowed me to take measurements etc as needed and along with photos of Chassis and cars to give me reference I began fabrication, our shop has full sheetmetal and tubing fabrication equipement so that part of it was a no brainer, Ive Cad drawn and cut everything that is flat sheet on our CNC plas cutter so if I wish to replicate this chassis again I can, also all tubing etc was also cad drawn and bent as needed.

SO FIRST UP WAS TO COLLECT PHOTOS ETC OF THE CURRENT V8 SUPERCAR CONTROL CHASSIS AND INTERIORS

 

[SOUTHROD]

Then once I had drawn up in our 3D cad design software I set to fabrication of the main Platform.

 

[SOUTHROD]

Then the Tubing framework was bent to spec and semi Tig welded in place

 

[SOUTHROD]

Ive used 3mm 5005 Alloy for the main sheetmetal parts and 2.5mm wall 1-3/4 inch tubing for the cage

 

[Daniel R.]

Woohooo....

That's great craftsmanship!!

 

[SOUTHROD]

So at this stage Im ready to start setting up the Woodward Column and mount and start fabbing the firewall

 

[SOUTHROD]

Next I fabricated the rest of the firewall and Simucube mount,got the steering position,seat and pedal position where I wanted them and mounted them in position,also fabricated the drive tunnel and mounted the Simworx sequential shifter.

 

[SOUTHROD]

So I fabbed up a replica Coolbox that sits beside the seat and made mounts to mount the Jinx Shifters roll bar and brake bias adjusters,the Simworks shifter was sepaerated from its cage and mounted direct to the Tunnel (still need to raise it a bit) then i fabbed arod that goes back to the actuator switch so it resembles a Supercar shift rod,the Simucube steering is joined to the woodward column by a woodward uni joint so as to replicate how a v8 Supercar would be,hopefully there is not too much lag between the simucube and wheel, I had my last Rig setup basically the same but I had a Ecci7000 belt drive in it and felt no loss.The Pt actuator mounts were designed cut,welded and bolted to the main platform.
the lower platform is fabbed from 8040 T slot.

 

[Mr Latte]

Amazing to see and no lack of attention to detail awesome is a word that is overused, not in this case, let me say it again AWESOME!
Very nice project sir.

Curiosities / Oddities
The only drawback I see with these types of builds which doesn't seem to be the case with your own.
Is some build a rig to a theme/dash/interior or type of car and then will play on that many different sims or cars like the average sim racer will.

I always thought unless you want to replicate and have an interest in driving in the sim the car the build is themed on then its a bit of an oddity.
As having a build surrounding you and being placed on the right-hand side would be kinda odd driving other types of cars or left-hand drive cars, not to mention single-seaters.

The other issue is the screen, as we normally sit centered with a screen or screens and a build like this puts you off-center.
Are you going to alter the view or have you looked into this? Maybe you're using VR only?

Look forward to you sharing more but yeah this is HARDCORE and you've got some serious skills...

 

[Ben_156]

Omg. Next level. Well done. Looking forward to next stage.

 

[DrRob]

Very well done sir. The best attempt on this I've seen on the net so far!

I would be interested in the overall weight of the setup and how the actuators cope with it.

Not sure why you would expect a lag with a DD motor when you had none with a belt driven wheel base. If at all I would've expected it the other way round. Or am I missing something here?

 

[SOUTHROD]

Well she is pretty much all finished just sorting the motion and other electrical's all up weight of the body came out at 215KG's tested the motion movement with a100kg driver and it moves real quick seems to be no real difference empty either.