This is a picture of what my arcade cabinet looked like when I got it. As you can see, it was Omega Race, a two-color Asteriods clone no one has ever heard of. I gutted the cabinet completely. I removed the mother/daughter boards, monitor, power supply, etc. In total, the crap I removed from the inside of this thing probably weighed about 150lbs.

It originally had a black-light on the inside of the cabinet facing backwards that shined on a cardboard backdrop with backlight painted planets and stars on it. It's a neat concept and I am sure it was cool for the game, but it would look terrible for what I want to do, so it had to go. The sound system that was in it consisted of two 9x6 paper cone speakers. The marquee lights at the top of the cabinet are several small light bulbs in a row. Since they connected to the powersupply that I removed, and since there are better options available now, I removed these. There was also a florescent light behind the panel below the joystick. Since the joystick I'm using takes up more space, this had to go as well.

Here are the details of my work so far:

• I replaced the mother/daughter boards and power supply with the computer system that I talked about in my last post. I have it mounted in place on the floor of the cabinet. I wanted a mounting solution that would be sturdy and secure, but still allow me to easily remove the tower if I needed to work on it or upgrade it. What I came up with is a series of hooks drilled into the floor of the cabinet around the outer edge of the computer. Each hook has a mini-bungi cord connected to it that crosses over the tower and links together in the center.
  
  
• I replaced the monochrome CRT monitor with a 19" LCD monitor. I have it mounted in place using the existing support structure. One unforseen issue I came across is that the cabinet is a reflected monitor type. I think these look the best, but it slipped my mind that the reflected image would be backwards. I was able to change settings in KXMAME to flip the screen horizontally, but the rest of the OS is backward. This is not a huge deal since it does not affect gameplay, which is all that the machine will be used for, but it would be nice to be able to flip all output to the monitor.
  
  
• The joystick I replaced with an Xarcade two-player joystick. I originally wanted the Xarcade XXL, but they stopped selling them before I could order one. The Xarcade two-player joystick fits better though, so maybe it was for the best. Probably the hardest part of the project so far was finding a way to mount the joystick in the cabinet. I settled on using four heavy duty L-brackets (two for the back and one for each side) connected to the base of the joystick, making a sort of shelf for it.
  
  
• I replaced the speakers with 300 watt 4-way Pioneer 6x9s. I have ordered a 300 watt amp to power them, but it has not arrived yet. I was thinking about removing the coin door and installing a subwoofer in the hole where it was. It would have to be a small subwoofer though as the opening is only 8" in the smaller of the two dimensions. I am not entirely sure that they even make subs that small.
  

Still left to do:

• Install the amp for the speakers when it arrives.
  
  
• Replace marquee lights with a 23" florensent bulb fixture I bought.
  
  
• Remove the existing side-art, do some touch-up sanding and repaint the cabinet.
  
  
• Replace the marquee, side-art and possibly the front bezel with something from Mame Marquees.