Nice job and sweet Cherry Red seats in your E24! You made the job a little more difficult than it had to be as the valve insert will remove from the top lid (4 screws) without having to remove the whole unit. I'm curious how your replacement held up? I tried a few and they died within a year (probably explains why they're $15). I just tried a modern replacement whole unit with alternate valve for hopefully a permanent fix - video on my channel if you want to check it out!

Full video : kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqLChWOqbJp0Y68