This DIY worked a treat on My E46 M3. A couple of lessons learned:
To get the needles off, I used a pair of teaspoons with the "spoon" end slid under opposite sides of the black hub of each needle. I found levering two spoons more controllable than the twist or fork methods. When reattaching them, I simply lined them up and pushed. The first time, the speedo needle was pressed too far onto the spindle and wouldn't spin due to friction against the dial background. A piece of paper, folded twice to give a little thickness and placed behind the hub of the needle as I pressed it back on ensured the correct clearance to the backing on my second attempt.
The VIN stored in the EEPROM did not have the "check digit" mentioned in the DIY. The VIN was stored in 5 consecutive characters for me.
Removing the EEPROM chip without a hot air station was fairly simple with a bog-standard soldering iron. I flooded each row of 4 pins with solder and then alternated between heating the two pools while pulling up with tweezers.
Ensure you seat the LCD retainment cage properly. It's easy to mistakenly think the two clips on the outer edge of the circuit board are engaged when they have a couple of mm extra to travel. If your LCD has segments that don't illuminate, this is probably the issue.
Test in the car and run the instrument cluster diagnostic program before you fully reassemble the case onto the board. The needles probably won't be lined up the first time. It's much easier to tweak them in the vehicle where you can use the diagnostic check to ensure they're in the correct position.
