[silver_pilate]

Yeah...my dash ended up being tighter than before after replacing the heater core.

I did something similar to fiveohpatrol. However, instead of cutting the core lid, I simply used a couple of large screw drivers/pry bars to lift the lid up while my buddy pulled the core out. It's definately not worth discharging the A/C. Just either cut the box and epoxy it back together or do as I did and pry it apart. My way takes two people, however. If you loosen a couple of the supporting bolts of the housing and pull the whole thing down a bit, it makes things easier.

I only took us about four hours start to finish for the core swap. I worked one side and he worked the other. The good thing is that most of the screws are pretty much the same. There are some that are different, but for the most part it's easy to figure out where they all go. You might grab an egg crate to seperate em out. Label the crate with a sharpie and you're all set. Course, I'm sure you've done more than enough work to know how to keep organized.

Oh...and have fun with the wiring harnesses for your lights and flashers and such. There wasn't much slack in mine and it was hell getting the harnesses off.

--nathan