thanks shabab! it definetely seems like it will work. and yeah, i already tried banging it and prying on it with all kinds of bars (seen in bottom of illustration). i guess ill go down to auto value and pick up one of those tools to save myself a headache.
By the way, apparently on m3's the stabilizer bar attaches right to the strut. If i am already getting new struts, do you think it might be worth it to get the m3 struts as well as an mt stabilizer arm? Would it even work?