Just wanted to update this thread, sorry it took awhile guys, I haven't had a need for this car but now my son is back from school and is bugging me to get it running so here we are.

I bought a power probe and used to determine that the starter was good. I dug a little deeper and found the smaller of the two wires was indeed loose. Tightened that connection and I was able to start it at the key.

I am happy that it was an easy fix and I don't have to pull out that starter again.
That makes THREE advanced auto starters I have bought and all have worked fine so IDK why everybody hates on them so much. I also get Delphi coils for my n54 for $50 and they work great every time.

Its cool having this resource to pull knowledge from you guys, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some weird BMW trickery that i was missing LOL