I am New to DIY sim building. Anyone chiming in with help is great.

Downloading it right now to demo , if a simular game engine has been used as before hand it wont be long , a day or two and a new plugin will be avail.

As per dashboard I have the only Ard code to run steppers as a dashboard by using the GameDash - warning we don't have dashout for any of the codemaster series as yet including the Grid's , sorry.
Just finishing another dashboard privately , person doesn't like forum sites, and I have known him for a few years so I can trust his not reproducing it for sale, And I can see too that yours is for you, mmm planning another I see already.

We found mounting the steppers was not a hard task as they are quite small but a hole needed to be cut in the circuit board in order for them to fit.

Smaller ones on the left and right where fails for running the water and fuel, now changed out for mini RC servos, as they don't need to be fast or smooth like the speed and rpm. Pot adjusts the dashlights, it glows a nice blue.
As for needles hot glued in place on stepper shaft.

This whole build will be made posted when finished and all info and codes will be supplied too.

I will probably be building on these for the rest of my life. Lol. Its starting to become addictive. Not to mention but now that I finished my uber simple build, I plan to rip it apart and redesign it. But after learning what I need i did some research and found that the mustang dashboard uses steppers. I never even knew about aircores.

Grids demo is out?

Ok so the Mustang will be an easy rebuild by hacking the pcb board. And using the same boards as above to run them.
But for the one your working on steppers will get it to run nicely.

Yes downloading the new Grid too.

@Barry do you have the wiring pin outs for the jetta light swith and dimmer? also the pin outs for the radio

Yes no problem. Although I'd need to get the radio pins off my other computer later. They're pretty easy to suss out though.
Notes:
All fuses have 2 sides, for example, fuse 1, and fuse 1a. Same fuse, just either side of it. If you look on the MK4 fuse box you'll see that they're actually labelled but the writing is very, very small.
Each connector has a unique reference. The letter 'T' signifies a connector and the following number tells us how many pins there are. There can be several connectors with the same number of pins and they are identified by the post fixed letter. So we can have T10a, T10b, T10c, etc.

Any questions let me know and I'll try to help.

Headlight dimmer switch.
1. Earth
2. Left headlight range control (pin 5 of the 10 pin connector on the headlight)
3. Fuse 3a (5A)
4. Headlight range control positive (both pins 1 on each headlight plug) + fuse 20a (15A - right headlight dipped beam)
5. Illumination (any grey/blue wire)

Headlight Switch
1. Ignition switched live (75x on relay plate) + 8/75 on cross contact relay switch + fuse 36 (15A - fog lights)
2. fuse 36a
4. Indicator stalk T12/7
7. Indicator stalk T12/8 + fuse 20 + fuse 21
9. T32/14 (blue cluster connector)
10. Earth
13. T12/9 + fuse 23
14. T12/10 + fuse 22
15. Ignition Switch 30
16. Fuse 3 and 4
17. illumination (any grey/blue wire)

Well I think I have just blown up 2 volkswagen dashboards
Just trying to find the lights.
I had them working but now nothing.
Would using a &digital tachometer and speedometer be easier?

Step 1 of the dash is finished. Lights are a go and the steering is mounted.

It wasn't a easy feat to preform. I had to finally take my personal cars dash apart to figure out the wiring.
It ended up being pin 20 was positive as the dimmer control and pin26&27 needed to be tied together and positive. Also nothing works unless pin 16 is connected as a always on positive.

The on/off switch cuts the circuit at the psu pin out.



The next step will be to start measuring for the frame and platform support.
I am undecided on weather to use a 3 dof code or just use 2 ard boards with 2 dof codes on both. One board controlling pitch sway roll surge, and the other controlling Traction loss and a forward / back motion i am considering for the seat using drawer slideS between the seat itself and the mount.

Ok to run the dials you either go down the CAN bus add-on to a uno and try and figure out from code how to set values on the, have not do this personally , takes a while to sort and different manufactures do it in different ways, makes it just a pain in the A%^$e to do. Hence I been doing it with steppers. But to make it even simpler and for novice coders to build I would recommend using rc servos. Only issue there is a gearing needs to be incorporated because a servo only moves 180 deg some 270 deg but they are expensive and full rotation ones can not be used for position control.

So to simply drive the gauges I would use a RC Servo which drives a gear which drives the needle

How about this cliffon persison stepper motor from sayal?
It has a long shaft and its. Local

sayal.com/zinc/zinc_SEARCH.asp?txtSEARCH=stepper+motor+&x=0&y=0

Have you tried running a pulse signal through the speed signal pin? For example with a drill into a speed signal sensor? I can get you the wiring pin out for the sensor if you want?

1. No I haven't yet. I plan on trying to get the other dashboard working or blown whichever is first. And if that fails i can use steppers which I will have to modify the board for

@eaorobbie would this be a good board to use? Paired with the motors i posted earlier?
http://m.ebay.ca/itm/171314791695?nav=SEARCH

They are local too and I have bought from him before so I know its fast

Not 100% sure on that one, I have found these from pololu to be better as all stepper libraries with the Ard have blocking functions which create really poor movement, And can not be controlled simply with 2 pin, ie require a 4 pin connection meaning they are quiet complicated to drive unless using a library.
These drivers are very cheap too.
http://www.pololu.com/product/1182

Simular driver like the one your are looking at but failed to keep up http://www.geeetech.com/wiki/index....ase_5-Wire_&_ULN2003_Driver_Board_for_Arduino

Even worse was this - https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield/using-stepper-motors

Hope that helps you.

The reason I suggested RC Servos, is they are simple to use, no blocking happens in code and most can do the 180def of movement in ms , damn fast, and the only draw back is gearing is needed to go past 180 deg , but works well. And basic to drive as explained in my 2Dof model code.

Well I guess I could use the gears from the old air cores. do they need a driver. Is your 2dof code model a thread on the forums? Do they need some type of feed back?

I will assume that this is the code you are referring to? http://www.xsimulator.net/community/marketplace/rc-model-code-for-arduino-uno-2dof-expandable.89/

No driver is needed but to run more than one servo you need to feed the servos with a separate power and earth.
More details are contained in the post, I need to update the source, sorry confusing having things in two places.
http://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/rc-model-for-motion-simulation.4600/

But happy to write you the basics that's is needed to control one gauge in the GameDash, just would be another day or two, winding up for the official release of the K8055 Interface for SimTools

Well the simulator is gone and now it is time to improve. The dash never got finished. I am embarking on a new design. One that will use 4 motors and 2 u joints. But still be a 2 dof.

Iam back after a year of having sat on the car seats sitting in my garage thinking to myself someday I'll build another simulator. I started again and I believe I'm going to change the name of this thread from "new to building a simulator" - "what have I forgotten/ what is new and improved"

this time I'm using a seat out of a Hyundai Tiburon which side mounted onto to roof railings from a cloth gazebo. I had some stainless steel from an old BBQ which I built around them. I'm kind of starting this thread a little late where I got most of the seat if not all completed I have taken just a few pictures during the process as I was more apt to keep going but I've installed speakers and a subwoofer into the seat' mounted it an old CV shaft I found lying in a scrap yard and I'm going to move it using two Ford Escort windshield wiper motors. Now I'm moving back into the programming aspect since its all built and Here I am rereading my old thread to see " what I have forgotten and what is new"

I bought a Dell 8300 today for $200 to run the simulators program. And here are some pictures of the project in my chaotic garage.
the first is of the sub in the seat.I ripped it from a old play seat I found at a value village. $20
The 2nd is if were i found so convenient holes in the tibberion seat frame for my upper tie rod ends.look near the botttom left.
The 3rd is of the rough lay in of the ard, and motor board. I put them in a silver spray painted vhs box. lol and I thought "well these are useless"
the forth is the rough placement of the steering deck
and the last is just a overhead shot.