My arcade adventure (getting Hydro Thunder into my basement arcade)

The ultimate arcade project. Day -2
So, I've been thinking on and off and on and off and on again about getting this arcade machine called "Hydro Thunder". It's a sit down arcade game that comes apart....

Before I go on any further, for those that know me, I've moved all my arcade machines in the basement, which makes the basement an actually nice place in the house now. Makes the house cooler, since the room they WERE in is now a side room. Like an office. But, I'm getting off track....

So anyhow, this machine I bought (at an amazing price might I add) is a beast. It's fucking huge. I've measured about, oh, 100 times all my doors and so on to make sure it fits. Does it? Not really. Barely. Make no mistake, once it's down there there's room, but getting it from point A to point B is going to be a bitch. Let me walk you through it.

The seat comes off, and that's pretty big. But, it's not as big as the main cab. Let's pretend we've moved that downstairs already. Done. Now's the hard part: The cab is wider and deeper than any of my other ones. Most of my machines are 27 or so inches wide. This one is a hair over 30. It's also about 35 inches deep, which also is a problem. I'll start there first. Assuming I can get it in the front door, which is the easy part, I have to SQUEEZE this into an area that's about 36 inches wide. A tight fight, but it will go, barely. Not sure how I'll push that in when it's not on wheels. Appliance dolly, I guess. It's when we barely get that there that the fun begins. This thing is 30 and 1/32 inches (yeah, I seriously measured by that much of a degree) wide, and my doorway is 29.

Wait a minute Steve, I thought you said you had just enough room? Yeah, I'm getting to that....

If I take the wood trim off the inside of my doorframe where the door closes, I'll have 30 and 1/4 inches of space. A tight tight squeeze for sure. Once it's down, I just nail it back on, and paint over it if need be. Good as new. What scares me is the wood on the frame could warp one way or another by just a hair, and that will not allow it to go down. I think I'll be fine, but by the hair of a gnat's balls.

So, squeeze in one way, squeeze in the other, on an appliance dolly. How the fuck am I going to tilt it backwards if I have no room to do so? We'll have to push it halfway into the stairwell first, then put a dolly under it, then go from there. By the way, you know how appliance dollys have those straps? Yeah, I can't use them becuase I don't have enough rooom on the sides.

I'm trying to get three guys to help including myself, of course. Two on top and two underneath. Right now I'm scared shitless to see if it will fit or not. Tuesday I'm about to find out if I bought the world's biggest paper weight or not. If it goes, it will be badass.... coolest machine I've got, when it's all put together. It will blow peoples' minds as to how I get it down there in the first place. If it doesn't, I will most likely (sorry Cori) rip the door frame right off the walls and put a new one up afterwards. Which reminds me, when I finally move out of the house, I wll HAVE to do that. So, anyone buying my home will get it minus one door frame. Deal or no deal.

Wish me luck on Tuesday. I'll give an update Tuesday night to see if it worked or not.

Anyone here know how much door frames are and how easy they are to put on after ripping one off?

all the work will pay off...

We had to remove my bro's door frame to get his 6-slot in, You can remove it and put it back on, no need to destroy it just make sure you put it back exactly how it was removed.

Biohazard53 said:

We had to remove my bro's door frame to get his 6-slot in, You can remove it and put it back on, no need to destroy it just make sure you put it back exactly how it was removed.

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Talk to me, seriously... how do you get it off? How do you put it back on? I don't see any nails or anything.

Spike,

The inside of the door frame should be held on with some finishing screw's behind the quarter or half moulding what we did is get a crow-bar or a nice size flat head screwdriver would work and start to pry at the seams. Since this is a basement door I am assuming it's a similar setup. You may have to remove the base moulding in the front and back of the door to get the inside door frame off. With the front and Back moulding off we then were able to get to the inside frame which came off as one whole peice. here is a rough sketch I drew, you can see the moulding which comes off as well as the quarter round and inside door frame. Once everything was removed we got the cab inside then put everything back the way we removed it with new nails.

Hmm, then I wonder if it's under the trim that I have to remove to get it in? Maybe I can do the whole thing? I won't do that unless we have to, but it's good to know that it's not as big of a deal as I thought. I'll read up on it today some more in preperation for tomorrow! Thank you,

I never played Hydro Thunder. Is it fun (when playing on an actual cab)?

Neogeofan12 said:

I never played Hydro Thunder. Is it fun (when playing on an actual cab)?

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God yes. I really loved the DC version, but the load times just killed the experience for me. Whole seat shakes. I guess there's two volume adjustments in the options menu: one for the game and one for the subwoover that makes the seat shake. I can't wait.

Got it down! Everything's in... and it works fucking great. I will have pics up of it later, along with the rest of my 'cade (haven't given an update in a while)

Congrats on getting the Hydro Thunder. Got a pair at the arcade and they are the second most played video game in the store (Cruisin' USA is #1).

Yes, two seperate volumes. The sub-woofer in the seat gives it the 'boat rumbling effect' while you play. Believe me when I say when the speaker goes out, you lose the feel of the game without that low rumble in the back of your seat.

Best level in the game = Nile Adventure. Got that down to a fine art. Best part of the game is finding all the hidden pathways and power-ups. Have fun with your new toy

WTF? Cruisin USA is number one? Wow... what games do you have there?

Anyhow, it's SO different than playing on the consoles. No loading, tons of rumble and force feedback. It's awesome. Again, I'll have pics later.

Since you have some in your arcade, can you tell me if the monitors on these have a red/green/blue adjustment somewhere? The monitor looks good, but I ALWAYS fiddle with those options.

Spike Spiegel said:

WTF? Cruisin USA is number one? Wow... what games do you have there?

Anyhow, it's SO different than playing on the consoles. No loading, tons of rumble and force feedback. It's awesome. Again, I'll have pics later.

Since you have some in your arcade, can you tell me if the monitors on these have a red/green/blue adjustment somewhere? The monitor looks good, but I ALWAYS fiddle with those options.

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The color controls are on the back at the monitor board (at least it is on the duo ones in the store). Because of the cabinet design in the back, they can be a little tough to access and it helps to have a mirror handy so as to see exactly how the colors look like. If the monitor is the original in the cabinet, the brightness, contrast and size adjustment board is usually located near the test and volume control buttons. Hope that helps.

ive been wanting to see your collection spike definitly awaiting the pics

Played Hydro Thunder at D&B's. You are one lucky SOB, I'd like to see another picture in the Rambo get up playing Hydro Thunder.