Armrest mods (raise them)

Is it just me or are the armrests really low?

Well,...a year and a half ago I raised mine.  Couldn't make it through week 2 with them the way they were.

The center one was easy.  I removed one of the screws that holds the top on,...went to Lowes and got some screws that were the exact same,.. but silver and 1.5" longer.  I also bought some 1.5" long nylon dowels.

Voila!  To undo it,..I'll just put the factory screws back in.  I have them stored in the bottom of the center console.


From your normal driving position,..you never notice it. (looks like I need to dust) :)




Next was the door armrest.  This was going to be tougher.  2 complaints.  One was that it was too low,...and the second was that (for no apparent reason),..it stopped about 3" foreward of the door opening.  My arm missed it completely (I'm 6' 2").

So I made this piece out of 3/4 oak that I had lying around.  I even used a router to recess the window controls.  It attaches to the holes that the window switches snap into with zip ties.  Putting it back to stock will take about 1 minute.  Pop the switches out,...cut 2 zip ties,..and snap the switches back into the door.  It should be higher though.  1.5" would be nice,..and padded too.  But as it is it's fine,..and my arm has someplace to rest.



Showing gap to door.

sorry but that's lame

kinda weird.. but ya gotta do what ya gotta do huh?

Very nice, good job!

i myself would have tried to make it look more factory,but thats just me

Darken the screws and raise that door armrest a bit while padding it and your golden. Great idea and more functional! Nice man...

I hear you on the last 2 posts.

Keep in mind though that this is a lease,...so I wasn't willing to spend too awfull much time or do any dammage to the car.

Also,..that first pic was taken with the camera on the seat bottom.  You can't see the white dowels normally.  I just took that pic to show what was going on.

No one has ever noticed it though.  It looks like the second picture when you get in and out,.....and it looks stock once you're in the car.  You're looking almost straight down at that point. 
 
When I first did the wood thing on the door,..it was just to try it out.  I had planned to add a 1/4" to 1/2" spacer under it later and cover it in batting and then black vinly, ...............................but as you can see,...that never happened.


On a different note;  Anyone have legroom problems in these?  I had 2.  One being the brake pedal too close to the gas and center hump,...so my foot gets caught on the back of the brake pedal when comming off the gas and going to the brake,.......the other being that both pedals were too close to the driver.  My knee would hit the steering wheel while trying to get my foot on the brake.  

I was able to do something about the later.  I moved the gas pedal back 3/4" and the brake pedal back 1.5 - 2".

Just curious.  (probably 3-4" of room behind the brake pedal with it depressed by the way).  Looks like they could have run an adjustable pedal setup if they wanted.

At 6'3" this sounds like something I would like to do. How did you move the pedals back?
 
Nova...

Seems like duckstu's mods could make a nice aftermarket business ... hint hint

if he cleans it up maybe

I'm courious. I'm 6' and wear a size 15 shoe. I don't have a problem with the gas and brake pedal placement. Is it possible these peaddles got redsigned at some point? I did however have a real problem with the E-brake. So I cut it off. Used black touch up paint on it, and noone has noticed yet.This gives me enough room to streach my legs out on a long trip without the pedal cutting into the top of my ankle. I did it right where the arm tapers down to the rubber peddle. There is enough of a nub left to still use the E-brake. At some point, i'm going to re-attach the piece I cut off above the arm. Not sure how, either tack weld or bolts. More likely bolts. Anyboby that is thinking of doing this, please note: Push the parking brake down halfway and cut away from the kick panel with a sawsall. I could try to post pics if anyone is interested.

ah heck..post one.........im sure someone will do it

I can't get the damn pictures to load!

Ok. Here we go. The first picture is with it removed. The second is what I cut off. The third is what it will look like reattached.

I don't know about the pedal design.  My friend Bryan borrowed the car for 3 weeks and complained about the same thing.  I'm not sure what size shoe he wears,..but I wear a 12 EEEE.  My H3 is an '06.  Here's a pic of how my pedals measure up. 


Could it be possible that your shoe is long enough that the widest part is above the brake pedal?  I'm sure the reason that the pedals are so close is because of the manual trans option.  The brake pedal is also much narrower than most automatic cars.

Moving the gas pedal was super easy.  It's a rheostat that attaches to the firewall with 3 nuts.  10mm I believe.  2 at the top,..one at the bottom.  I removed it,..then sliped a couple old nuts over the 2 studs at the top to act as spacers.  Then re-installed the pedal.  The pedal was now angled back towards the firewall.  5 minutes job tops.



The brake was more involved.  There is a threaded rod going to the master cylinder.  You can loosen the jamb nut and turn the rod.  That adds slack to the master cylinder, but doesn't change where the pedal tops-out at.  What actually determines the location where the pedal stops, is a flat metal plate that is welded to the left side of the brake arm.  It's purpose is to stop the upwards pedal travel, and also to activate 2 switches.  One for the brake lights and the other presumably for the cruize.

You then tip-tie an 1/8" piece of aluminum to it (maybe 1.5" high by 2" wide).  This makes the pedal top-out farther down.  You then have to correctly adjust the rod.  You adjust the rod until you have some play,..then just barely take the play out.  If the rod has too much pre-load on it,...the hole in the master cylinder that goes to the reservoir will be blocked.  Your brake pedal will slowly gain slop at the pads wear out.  Not good.  I hesitate to even go into this mod,..as it involves safety (if done incorrectly).

Now,..the rods' adjustment is only enough to get the pedal down about 3/4",,,which would corespond to an 1/8" flat spacer for the switch plate thing.  I needed more room, so I ended up grinding a notch in the middle of the pin to get even more adjustment range out of the rod, and ended up using an almost 3/8" spacer (.35"  The 1/4" shiny aluminum plate you see and the .1" piece of grey foam behind it)


I'll need to buy a new pin from the dealer befroe I turn the car in.

Trying again!


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Here is the last pic. Sorry to all for the previous 2 post. Doc Olds is the man! Did not know pics wouldn't show up in preview.


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That clears it up duckstu. They have moved the peddles. Your pic shows the left side of the brake peddle at about 8 1/4". Mine is about 10".

Thanks for the step by step instructions and clearly detailed pictures.
 
Nova...

I like the current height of my armrest.

I'm courious. I'm 6' and wear a size 15 shoe.
 
Dude, 6' and a size 15?   You must have the biggest....eh...nose in the neighborhood!

We're thinking they may have made a change in the pedals from '06 to '07.  I measured the gap between the hump and the brake near the bottom of page 1 in this thread.  It is about 5" from the hump,...which is almost exactly the width of my 12 EEEE shoe bottoms.
 
 Is yours different?

Black Impala measured his and reported that the left side of the brake pedal is farther to the left.  But I'm still not clear if that is because Black Impalas' brake pedal is wider (like most automatic trans cars' brake pedals are) or is it actually mounted farther to the left in the car?

What does yours measure.  (and ahem,...I do have a big nose, LOL).