Gallery first:
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After waiting a freakin' month for the evaporator, it's sealed, vacuumed, tested, cold, reassembled, test driven, and back to freakin' normal at last. Shockingly, no reoccurring ECU codes (after I cleared them), no lost sockets, and only a small handful of spare bolts. A few snags on reassembly but hopefully she's together for the long haul.
This was the most insane repair I've attempted; way harder than clutches, coil overs, rollbars, and convertible roofs. Honestly I'd rather pull an engine than a dashboard any day. I knew NOTHING about AC going into this and holy crap have I learned a lot. I've been joking all along that the difficulty was about 12/10 but honestly none of it was that HARD, it was just a LOT to do. I can probably get this interior out in a couple of hours now that I know where (almost) all of the bolts go. Hopefully I got it right and don't need to pull the dash ever again. My biggest concern is whether or not I got the HVAC drain hole lined up. It got the carpet damp during testing but I wiggled it and it clicked into place. Hopefully that's done.
AC blows cold, car drives fine, and I think it's time for a well earned beer.
Estimated Repair Cost from BMW: $3,000
Total Cost of This Repair: $150
Fin.