Well I feel like an idiot asking this, but here goes:

I finally got sick of my cracked ebrake (center) cover in my '87 Volvo 245. I bought one, and after seeing that the "new" one was (eyeball) the samme size, I started to remove the old one. Well needless to say it came apart in about 200 pieces, so I went to put in the new one and I cant figure out how to get it in. It appears there is no way to get it "in" enough to align it to the holes. The old cover had the change box and the seatbelts (tightly) on the sides, but for a goof and b/c the seats were changed (b/4 I got the car) I tired putting the belts into the cover, but that didnt work either. S
So I'm stumped - I mean this thing was made for a 240 so why doesnt it fit. Intrestingly the old coin box doesnt fit into this cover, but using the pieces, it is clear that the holes are in the same place on both covers.
What am I doing wrong. Do I need to remove the seat belts?

Any help would be appreciated

I think, when i did it on my 87, i took off the brackets that position the seat belt receptacles. This allowed me to rotate them out of the way. oh, and i'll repeat the warning from the last post, WATCH OUT FOR THE TAB IN THE FRONT!!! i forgot about it and craked the plastic under the ebrake handle. caught myself before i shattered the beast, though.

while you have it off, do some preventive maintenace. a few years back, my dad tried to hoist himself into the car using the top of the console as a support. cracked the damn thing right at the top. so, when i took it off, i found some pieces of scrap aluminum and some epoxy in the garage. i coated the underside with epoxy and shoved the AL brackets into it. seems to have worked so far, although i don't use it to support weight!!

good luck

Thanks that did the trick - although it really doesnt fit that pretty.

Anyway despite appearing to be the same as the old cover, the "Coin box" thingamajig doesnt fit into the new cover. Where can I get a new one?

It should go on pretty easily, I do not know if it changed much over the years but I suspect not. Slide it over the e-brake handle from the front and make sure the TAB goes through the SLOT in the front, this will allow it to move back far enogh that both back SCREWS can go into the nuts (fixed on the main bracket that holds the seat belt receptacles).
Karl