Mrs Claus gave Santa the Sveeedish armrest offered through Mini Mania. http://new.minimania.com/web/Item/NM.../InvDetail.cfm Has anyone installed one of these babies and can they give any tips? Thanks!

 

This seems much more like the way to go instead of the other install instructions that they linked externally to.

 

Thanks Drew Wondering if we have to remove the seat or can leave it in... and then there's disconnecting the battery.... don't want the airbags in the seat popping (Hope your Christmas was merry!!)

 

I think you should be able to leave the seat in, but it may be a crampt work space. I doubt you'll touch anything related to the airbags going through the back of the seat hoever it is probably a safe move to undo the battery for 15-30min just to be sure. If it turns out there's not enough room in the car and the seat needs to be removed then you must undo the battery to avoid warning lights. I'd love to see a photo with the back compeletely off, I'm not sure just how deep the framing for the seat is.

Feel drop me a PM if you want a spare hand or find you need to borrow a torw screwdriver or some random tool.

(Very Merry Christmas this side of town)

 

I would also like to see the back of the seat off. I wonder what it looks like hmm....? I bet there is candy in it!

 

I installed mine a few weeks back. Here's my post about the installation.

No need to remove the seat or disconnect anything. The plastic seatback popped right off with a moderate pull. I left it attached at the bottom like it was hinged. This left plenty of room to peel the inner bolster seat cover forward and install the bracket.

If you run into any problems, I'll keep my eye on this thread and help if I can.

 

Thanks for the support! Am going to start the process... will update with photos of progress shortly.. I hope.

 

Success!! The installation only took about an hour, and I'm very happy with the results! Your input about the seatback removal was much appreciated Scooterboy, since it is not mentioned in any literature!! We ended up just taking the whole back off for easier access.
Here are some pics: bracket to put in, removal of the seat-adjusters, we found a Knome overseeing our heating elements (for those of you interested what was inside the seat.. he watched to make sure we didn't accidently slice anything since the elements are a spun wire, embedded in some of the foam), a bit of foam had to be removed for the bracket to sit properly, it wasn't mentioned but a portion of the armrest support is unnecesary to fit a MINI's svelte proportions, and the final product installed.
Off for a drive to test it out!

 

Back from the drive, and Highly recommend this armrest!! This outdoes the factory op because it is so adjustable! Looks like it was a factory fit too!
Here are the other pics that wouldn't fit on the last post....
Happy to give more feedback!

 

Looks Great!!!

 

 

Nice job!

I'm jealous - I didn't have gnome in my seat to help me...