Success
July 25th, 2018
I was able to successfully upgrade my Mac mini with only a free extra pieces left over. Well they weren't really extras, I just couldn't get all the screw holes to line up perfectly when I put the thing back together. The tolerances on that computer are extremely tight and many of the cables are fragile to say the least. I'll probably up it back up and try again later, but after nearly an hour of messing with it the first time I'm afraid I'll just make things worse at this point.
Update:
Down to only 1 pesky screw that won't align.