Been sitting on this for a while. Finally working and should wrap it up this weekend. Cleaning all around certainly elongates this activity. I was surprised at the heftiness of the suspension components compared to my E46M3 or E36M3, when I last did suspension work. Thanks to my dad who spent a day building a stand for this old 100lb vice so that I could mount the spring compressor (it was more complex than it looks).
I wrote up a detailed DIY, but as usual not everything went as written, so I have some work to do to update the document. One part that has me questioning is the orientation of the RF strut end cap. While the LF was keyed just like ISTA says, the RF came out of the car not keyed like ISTA said it should be. The endcap is properly aligned to the assembly as shown by the factory blue alignment marks. So I'm reinstalling with the same keying that the assembly came out of the car.
-Pic of lifting position on the rear diff and some under-cleaning
-Pic of Vice/Stand for Spring Compressor
-LF Strut Assembly installed
More later...