After doing a ton of research, I was thinking I could just raise the motor a bunch and not drop the subframe but with the baffle in place, the tolerances were way too tight to try and get it in place and maneuver through the subframe. No baffle, it would have been easy. 
So I dropped the subframe. Honestly, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. I’ll need an alignment but was able to put it back up by myself with a jack on the subframe and bungee cords keeping the struts in the wheel wells as it went up. 
I am now back on the road but still have a list of things to do. Next on the list will be the timing belt/water pump and new skid plate. I did the belt 2 years ago and the tensioner is squealing like crazy so that obviously makes me nervous. The water pump I did in the fall and it’s already weeping (Graf) so want to do that as well. As for the skid plate, the roads are brutal around me and just adds insurance so I am hesitant to remove it all together and the current plate I have (red46) is awesome, it provides 0 airflow to the pan. I decided to try a new one that looks like it will provided some flow the pan and hopefully help keep temps in check a bit more. I notice a massive difference in oil temps with and without the current skid plate. 
Hoping to have some more updates in the next month or so and hopefully a track day at NJMP, as it’s only a hour from me. Sure beats these 4 hour drives!
None the less, glad it’s done and the car sounds so much better and is running awesome. At some point, on one of the few drives after the belt job, I started noticing popping in the front suspension in parking lots. I assumed this was my GC camber plates so I jacked the car up and started inspecting. What I noticed was with the car up in the air and turning lock to lock the rack appeared to be shifting internally. Confused, I pulled the boot back on one side and you could literally see the rack move about half way through the rotation. I have been running e36 racks (un powered) for quite some time and this is the 2nd time this has happened so this rack only last a year or so. At this point, I said “enough is enough” and convinced myself that having a power rack is worth the additional weight and power draw from the pump. I had a gold tag zhp rack hanging around so I ordered all of the stuff to convert my car back to power and some new tie rods and was on my way. 
I will say, it feels awesome. I still need an alignment but it’s kind of crazy how light it makes the car feel. I have been driving it without power steering for so long it’s honestly like a different car. The one draw back is that not having power steering muffles a lot of e NVH so it’s a bit odd having some of that back but makes it worth it. 
Finally, my front end clunk in parking lots is still there so I ordered new camber plates from GC. Mine are pretty old and I’m impulsive so hopefully this solves that. Next up will be getting my camber plates in and my new rear shocks (GC warranty has been a nightmare to deal with BTW) an alignment and then hopefully a track day at NJMP next month! Lastly, an updated interior shot. I tend to change my steering wheel/shift knob and other little things quite often just to change things up. Really into how the interior is shaping up. Next winter I plan to do a new dash (maybe flocked) and new gauges. I hate the way the ones that I have look and they are mechanical. Will switch to a set of VDOs that match a bit better and ideally not in the dash vent location. TBD though. 
While Track Night in America is only 3 sessions, it’s pretty affordable for what it is and NJMP is only an hour from my house so I decided to trek the car down to Millville for TNIA.
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The strut inserts that were in there were almost 10 years old and had to be tired. The camber plates probably could have been rebuilt but am a fan of the new design over the old one. Getting the car aligned Thursday but took it out this Am and so far it feels way better. 
I have a track weekend coming up 10-9 and am really looking forward to having the refreshed front suspension. One other thing I will be doing is new sway bar end links. I don’t have m3 sway bar attachments on the front so no matter what end links I try, the sway bar sits at a crazy angle when the car is lowered. Thanks to the spece30 group on Facebook, I found a solution. Ford Mondeo Estate end links. 
They allow you to remove the bottom bracket that bolts to the front control arm and should lower the bar closer to parallel. We will see when they come in from EBay Uk!
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