Today, at the local u-pull-it yard, I picked up a rear center
armrest for a 240 sedan, hoping to use it between the front
seats of my 240DL wagon. To make a long story short, I succeeded.
Here's what I did. First, using a hammer and wood blocks, I
carefully flattened the two "L" sections that held the armrest to
the sedan's seat. Then, I cut two 14" long sections of 1" wide
galvanized steel strip. I enlarged the end holes in the strips
to accomodate the later style seatbelt buckle bolts. With the
front seats as far forward (and tilted forward as well), I undid the
seatbelt bolts and the two bolts on the bottom, rear part of the
center console. I put the seatbelt bolts back in, with the strip
between the large round washers and the ends of the seatbelt
buckles. I then found two 1" long bolts with the same thread as
the console bolts, and threaded these (with a 3/4" washer at
the end) through the center console mounting holes and one of the
pre-drilled holes in the steel strips. Then, I drilled holes in
the flattened armrest mounting pieces, about 1" above the rear
mounting slots. I put bolts, with large washers on them, and
lockwashers and nuts at the ends, through the new holes and through
top predrilled holes in the strips. I did the same for the
rear slots in the plates and the second-from-top predrilled
holes. The armrest now sits between the seats, resting on top of
the center console. The seats themselves provide enough friction
to stop it from moving when it is in the "up" position, and the
steel strips provide a semi-rigid mounting for it, but would
still bend out of the way if a rear passenger's knees hit the rear
of the armrest in a crash. Access to the seatbelt buckles is
slightly more difficult with the armrest down. Next project:
moving my seat heater switches to the dashboard :)

- Drew


BAD ASCII ART FOLLOWS

+------------------------------------+
| o <--pivots--> o |
| |
| new hole -------> O | <== diagram of flattened
| _________ _________ | mounting plates
| |_________|<-slots->|_________| |
| |
+------------------------------------+

+-----+
| o | <- top hole, bolt through new hole in mounting plate
| o | <- second hole, bolt through rear slot in mtg. plate
| o |
| o |
<<<<<<<<<<<<
| o |
| o |<- hole about 4" up takes lengthened console bolt
| o |
| o |
| o |
| o | <- enlarged bottom hole accepts seatbelt buckle bolt
+-----+

note- the bottom of the strips should be bent, such that their
angle will allow them to sit flat against the area of the floor
where the buckle bolts attach. Above the console bolt hole, the
strips are again bent so as to slope outwards, but the tops of the
strips are again completely vertical. The total amount of outward
"kink" should be about 3/4". The strips attach inboard of the
mounting plates.

Sorry to all if this is confusing - I don't have a digicam, but
sometimes a pic. is worth ...