[kosmokratur]

I had a thread about this already:

https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=2082325

Today, I went outside, thinking I could swap it out relatively quickly. I pulled the passenger side wiper and lifted the plastic cowl piece so I could see the bolts at the other end of what I thought was a short aluminum brace. No, it turns out it is a real strut tower brace, connecting both sides of the car with a single piece of aluminum. Then I noticed that the hold-down clamp is on the front side of the battery, under the electronics box shown just right of the batt in my picture on the other link. I started to worry about getting all 8 bolt holes to line up if I removed it with the car sitting on the ground (i.e., if it structurally flexed once the strut brace was disconnected). It also seemed that e-box would probably need to be detached to allow the battery hold-down clamp to be reinstalled. It looks like there's at least one torx screw holding that e-box in place... conveniently located under the brace. Now I'm beginning to see why the dealer quoted about $300 in labor (I balked when they mentioned registering it, since we have concluded it does not need to be registered). Am I the first to try to do this as a DIY?