ahhh duh... i didn't see the lever. well with the help of this post as well as all the others previous, i finally got it all out and counted the pins and everything... i apologize for my lack of intuition in these things, but thanks so much to everyone's help. i'm eternally grateful to this message board, it's such a wonderful forum for help, advice, humor, and everything else bmw related! thanks to all of you guys out there offering your two cents, and i hope this message board continues being as great for everyone else as it has been for me :-)