Part 3: The Battle
Once you’ve removed the innards of the stick, it is safe to say that you could now start modding. By now, you should have studied and planned how you will re-wire and/or mount your higher quality components.
Basically, you will have to choose what brand(s) of components you are going to use for this mod.
For my mod, I used all Sanwa buttons and joystick; I think you can use Seimitsus as well but I am not sure about using Western components (e.g. Suzo-Happ, IL, etc) as the case/shell’s thickness is only around 2 inches. The Japanese joysticks will fit just right (like the JLF) but will take some tinkering with the case itself.
These are what I used: (got them all from etokki c/o Ryan, aka Laugh - thanks to his quick service)
Joystick - Sanwa JLF-TP-8Y-SK (JLF-H included but no ball top nor mounting plate)
Ball top - Sanwa LB-35 (Dark Hai Ball top)
Buttons - Sanwa OBSF-30 (Dark Hai buttons) (6 pcs)
- For the buttons you could also use OBSNs as I think they will have a better fit than just the snap-ons
Preparing the Case/Shell for the Joystick
If you look at the bottom half of the shell, you should see this cylindrical plastic that supports the stock joystick. This ‘support’ will actually get in the way of the JLF stick - you have to cut this out using a rotary tool (I used Black&Decker RTX1)
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/4527/joysticksupportring.jpg
You could cut it until only 1-2mm of plastic remains on the base, giving you clearance for the JLF stick:
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/5643/joysticksupportringcut.jpg
Now, looking at the upper half of the shell, you will find that the hole left by the stock stick is not big enough to house the JLF. What I did is mark around 2-4mm of plastic along the perimeter of the hole. You will have to grind or sand away this lines until you could let the JLF’s housing freely sit on the metal panel as flat as possible.
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/9853/joystickgrindingarea.jpg
You’ll also notice that I pencil-marked two points on the left and right sides. This is where I will be drilling the metal plate later on. Try to center stick as much as possible before marking the drill points.
Be sure to remove the metal panel before sanding!
Using my rotary tool, I sanded the perimeter bigger. I also cut the upper left screw point. This will make room for the connection to the JLF’s PCB as you will see later on.
http://img858.imageshack.us/img858/1024/joystickareagrinded.jpg
We now work on the metal panel. Be sure to have a hand drill or a drill press as the rotary tool may not have the power to drill the holes or make use of the drill bits this time.
Using the markings earlier, drill 4mm holes on the bottom side of the metal panel. These holes will be good enough to fit bolts that will be used to mount your JLF. On the top side of the metal panel, use 8 to 11mm drill bits to create a countersink. The metal panel is thick enough to do this and will enable you to use flat-head/countersink bolts that will leave you with a flush surface on the metal panel.
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/3396/countersinks.jpg
Try to find countersink drill bits for this. There are specific countersink drill bits that can do this better than using a bigger drill bit and will leave you with a better quality of countersink.
Re-attach the metal panel to the shell and start mounting your JLF. I used countersink bolts with matching hex nuts to secure the JLF in its place. I arranged the TP-MA (JLF PCB) so that the connectors point to the right (the Exar main PCB also have its directional connectors to the right - see part 1)
http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/3296/jlfmounted.jpg
The PCB
Now that the case is ready, we turn our attention on the PCB. Crimp quick disconnects on the wires that connect to the PCB on the left side. Also, create a daisy chain for the Grounding of the buttons. You will have to use a minimum of 12 quick disconnects for this part.
http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/7539/quickconnects.jpg
Black wire for the daisy chain, Misc colors for the action buttons.
I bent the quick disconnects about 100 degrees for it to fit in the case when I close it later on. Be sure to check for cold solders specially on the daisy chain as this might cause your button not to work as desired.
Since my JLF came with the JLF-H wire harness, I decided to use it. The idea is to connect the JLF-H to the right side of the PCB. What I did is connect wires from the harness to a specific wire that corresponds to up, down, left, or right on the PCB. You could use the TP-MA diagram found on the Akihabarashop website to trace from connections on the TP-MA.
http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/8523/directionalconnections.jpg
With the positioning of my TP-MA, these are the connections I made by color (assuming you kept the original wires from the Exar main PCB).
Note: this is a JLF-H wire to Main PCB color code.
**Orange -> Red
Yellow -> Green
Red -> White
Green -> Yellow
Black -> Black
**
Following this will give you the correct directions on your game.
You are now ready to finish everything up
Put in your push buttons (turning them to the left or right to lock them in place if you did not use OBSNs). Connect the connectors to each contacts of the buttons and also connecting the a ground connection to each.
Return aux buttons and the PCB back to their original mounting and secure them with their screws. You could also try to tidy up the wires and tape them to places were they won’t get in the way when you put the bottom panel back.
http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/738/modfinished.jpg
This, my friends, is what it will look like after you do the transplant 
Re-attach the bottom panel of the case and marvel on your new gaming weapon:
http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/8113/exarfullsanwa.jpg
It kinda looks good by itself, but I have other plans for the exterior of this stick.
Basically, MISSION COMPLETE