Armrest
A popular part of the Interior of more modern cars, but something very rarely seen on an E30. Here's a quick run-down of giving yourself some elbow support.
OEM Armrest
The original armrest built for the E30, can be sourced but fairly expensive given the rarity of the part.
E46 Armrest
Adding an E46 armrest is a pretty easy job, and adds that touch of class and comfort to the interior of an E30. It is a great addition which incorporates style as well as function, as it reduces fatigue on long journeys and looks perfect in the interior unlike the OEM E30 armrest which looks rather tacky, as does the usual online auction Chinese fodder.
It doesn't invade your arm space when changing gear either, and sits just below the gear knob so it's at the perfect height. I'm around 5'8 and find it perfect for those long journeys.
Installation
Unfortunately the armrest had already been in my car for some time when this page was made, so I’m backtracking and showing pics when its already installed its just to give you an idea but all in all very simple to do!
The brackets can be made from a piece of steel or metal its basically an upside down "L" , no idea where the ones in the pics came from, but anything similar should do. A bracket with a point at the bottom is good as I find the bracket does take some strain when leaning forward it looks like it is doing something! So this is also ideal, the brackets are partially covered by the seats and the seatbelts as well.
The dimensions are up to you, but the width of the bracket should be the length of the bottom part of the armrest with two screws securing it at either end underneath, some spacers were used because the screws used were too big and would go through into the tray. Depending on your height you can play about with the height of the bracket, but keep in mind the handbrake as it does hit when raised if the armrest is too low or too forward. The armrest itself is just the top lid, and more importantly it’s from a LHD car, I made the mistake first time and bought a RHD version. This would probably be the hardest part of the process to source one.
If you sourced just the lid the you can proceed with making up your own brackets, however if you have the complete assembly including the E46 stand then you need to separate the lid from the stand. You need to get some pliers and on the side of the hinge squeeze it and shimmy it out.
Once the brackets are on the armrest you could leave a bit of extra height so you can play around with it and see what works for you and cut it down to size later, after you have cut it down just drill two holes through the metal, rest it down on the carpet and see how it sits and screw it down to the panel, on the driver’s side there’s a lot of room, however near the handbrake its quite thin however I still managed it. I removed the panel when screwing it down (2 10mm nylon nuts) and left around a few mm overhang so it rested on the carpet and didn’t strain the panel and creak.
It is stable enough, although nowhere near as sturdy as it is in the E46 but good enough to rest your arm on. If you wanted a more sturdy one then you could use thicker metal and possibly try and link it up under the handbrake surround, or have a post screwed in the middle underneath going through the trim bolted down somewhere.
You could also have just a little backing plate on the other side of the screws, but that’s up to you.
The bit underneath is a good place to hideaway for drink bottles as well as having additional centre storage space for coins, cards etc.
Other options
There is another way to do it which is a lot more involved, a lot of cutting and tinkering to get it to fit, it is a lot more sturdy so this is also an option if you want but the final result doesn't blend in perfectly with the E30 interior, and doesn't fit right where it joins up, there are a few links showing the install on .com E30 sites, but this is one of the links at revlimited, showing it installed.
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=130004&highlight=fiberglass
