How-To Install an Armrest!

[niki]

I am so excited that I finally got my armrest installed! I bought it about 4 months ago and it has been sitting around waiting to be put in Bugzzi! I was just too afraid to cut the hole myself so I waited to find someone to do it for me! (Thanks, Wes! )

So, here's a little write up, finally, of the process. Someone had to do it!

First, you have to find all of the 4 screws holding down the top part of the center consle. They are hidden under the cup holders.

One under the back cup holder:



One under the two front cup holders:



And one right next to the E-Brake:



They are allen screws (Germans ) so have some allen keys handy.

Now you get to pull the auto-shifter knob off. This is scary...! But, hey, you gotta do whatcha gotta do! I know there's other threads about how to do this, but here ya are anyway!

Put the E-Brake on (Very important! )
Step on the brake.
Put the car in Neutral.
Now pull down on the little black plastic part underneath the shifter. It wiggles down very easily.
You can now pull the shifter up and off. Might take a little force.
It'll look like this when you've got it off.



Now the top plate can come off with ease. The front piece will come up easily but don't pull too hard yet because the chrger outlet is still plugged in. You'll have to get in the backseat in order to see what you're doing here. The white base of the plug has two tabs holding it together. Just squeeze the tabs and it should come right apart. The whole top piece of the consle is snapped on so just wiggle it loose and pull- just don't break it!



Now, the hard part was measuring it out so the whole was the right size and was aligned for the holes where the armrest drills in. It took a lot of pencil marks and concentration. Unfortunately I didn't snap any photos of the cutting process. Sorry! But you get the idea of cutting a hole!

After you have the hole cut, you need to take the armrest apart. Both sides of the base snap right off. You'll expose the metal underneath once you snap the plastic pieces off the side. There is a bolt holding the bottom part to the top part. Undo this bolt. Take the bottom part and wiggle it into the space behind the E-brake. There is a bolt down there already next to the E-brake that you'll need to undo before being able to insert the base of the armrest completely. The holes on the bottom of the base should line up with the holes already there in the center console.

To set it in there, we used the screws provided and some liquid nails. There was no threading in the holes in the consle to screw the bolts onto so the liquid nails worked well to hold the base in place. We still put the screws through it just for some added support.



Now, you want to put everything back together starting with snapping the center console pieve back on, then the screws, the auto-shifter, and the cup holders. You'll see the base of the armrest coming up through the hole.



Put the pieces of the armrest back together and voila! You now have a very awesome, very handy, very comfortable armrest!



Don't point and laugh at my dirty cupholder... LOL! I cleaned it up!

Are there any questions, class?!

[Breez]

Great job NIKI!

[Mr.Yellow]

I cant see any of the pics

[taterbug]

Totally cool Niki!!!! Now you can rest your arm and let your shoulder lean..... LOL

[gilligan]

Awesome, I miss doing my Detroit lean.

[marvins_dad]

Yeah!
Thanks for the great How-To!
I know we have had quite a few that have asked about this over the years!!!