Don't throw the side car away. Make sure you document what DIO's are not working for next year and keep it for prototyping.
Here is this year's comparison between the veteran and rookie KOP. This year, veterans got 1 digital side car instead of two. Here is the KOP checklist
http://usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Com...klist_RevC.pdf.
You can reuse most of the stuff. As long as you can get the parts commercially during the season, you can use them. Many of the motors can be reused as long as they have not changed the model. CIM's usually don't change, the smaller motors often do. You have to check carefully. We also write the year on all our parts. It's ugly, but it keeps us legal.
I know you have figured this out already, but next year protect those electronics. Of course, I say this after I let the team delay putting a rollbar on the prototype. They were so eager to try the bump. We all just stood there and watched it tip. We took out the digital IO module that way.
In case you have an extra $750 dollars sitting around (haha) you might want to think about getting a second cRIO. They are 1/2 price for
FIRST teams.