As the title states, I couldn't wait any longer to figure out a way of relieving a lack of elbow support for the right arm, for right hand drive cars!
Just installed an arm rest ala movie theatre vintage. Lets see if I can describe the setup properly.
Had some spare burgundy vinyl lying around and a movie theatre arm rest complete with that jumbo drink holder (don't ask, it was a long time ago!
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Materials used:
SS bolts and SS nyloc nuts (big ones mainly and small ones for back mount)
Metal bar stock ~1/4" thick (front mount) >9" long
Metal angle stock ~1/4" thick (rear mount) >9" long
Burgundy vinyl - arm rest pad and material to cover the posts
Screws - MDF wood screws to supplement the originals that hold pad plate to plastic cup holder assembly
1 movie theatre cup holder with molded jumbo drink holder!
Put the arm rest up to a spot that I figured would not get in the way of seat travel on the passenger side, both front-back and back tilt (and the parking brake - I figure it is good enough until the winter gloves go back on!) Removed the back portion of the column. Lined up a good spot for the bar stock to mount both properly into the cup holder assembly and the base at the furthest point of contact in the base (that little slot that looks like 3-4 CD's would fit into it; it is not much good for anything else really! So at this point the two bars are on the side of that holder at maximum points front and back and situated on the passenger side of the hole. Drilled out holes for the bars and cup holder with which to fasten everything back together. I also used vinyl to cover the metal stock as it would not look very "original" if I hadn't. As a side note, more vinyl was used to both replace the original Famous Play.... (I've said too much) blue and to look more like the interior. I also trimmed and stuffed in some white rag material to make things a little more posh for the elbow.
So with the holes drilled in both the bottom locations of the base (two holes for each bottom bar and one for each top mounting point) I proceeded to install everything back into the vehicle. One thing that I should point out is that while sandwiching everthing on the bottom mounts , mainly the plastic at the top of the tower, caution should be used unless a spacer is used on the underside/backside plastic housing so as to prevent cracking or snapping the plastic if it gets too tight. As it was I didn't even have to tighten them that much. Everything is sturdy, nothing flimsy, all the stress of movement for the most part is linked to the four bolts that hold the column trim in place.
Lastly, the orientation of the cup holder comes into play. I planned to mount the cup hold so that it is just poking into the back seat area of the car. It will not truly be in the way of someones knees if they are situated in the middle of the back seat and/or getting in or out. I tested out the final fitment, and was amazed at what I had created. If only there had been a standard arm rest for these cars in my particular model. I had an arm rest in my parents Ford Focus but it got in the way of shifting alot of the time, more so it was flipped out like it was out of the way.
So basically I have an arm rest that is situated at ideal height to rest either the driver or passengers arm(s) onto. The front has a nice rolloff so as to not drop off too abruptly, and at the rear is the cup holder in a rotated position to the way it would normally sit at a movie theatre!
I can't promise any pics right now, but if there is enough interest, I might source one out from a friend.
Hope you guys can picture what I just posted
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