Well I got the damn thing apart. I have pictures and will write-up a DIY... but the job, here, really is getting the fan out. Replacing the belt and pulleys is trivial (and I didn't even take any pictures of that... unbolt old parts, bolt in new parts, done).
BMW really screwed the pooch with this design, just a few simple no-cost tweaks would make getting the fan out of this car trivial. There was a time when BMWs were designed and built to be maintained and to last. This car, alas, is not and I cannot imagine why.
