Heater Core Hell

[vince@performancecarstereo.com (Vince Royer)]

Hey guys

Help, I'm in hell.  My arms are all scratched up and I have coolant in my
hair.  What have I done?

Ok, so I've got an '82 with a 1.7L .   I decided to change my heater core
because it started to stink. I read the tips around the net about cutting it
out instead of taking the whole dash apart, so I thought I'd give that a
shot.  Once I got in there though, I realized it wasn't gonna work. It
looked like it already was cut out. Didn't look like the pictures at all.
My heater core is mounted horizontally with the exit hoses right up against
the firewall. So there's only an inch or less of hose sticking out of the
firewall. With alot of wresting around, I finally got it out. I had to take
the gas pedal out, and pull down the entire heater box. Ok that was fun.
While I was in there I diagnosed a broken fan. The pin melted into the
harness on the fuse box. I then noticed another wire that was burning it's
way through.  What's with this?  Is this common?  My fuse box is otherwise
in really good shape, doesn't look like there's very much corrosion.
Anyways... back to the heater core.

I replaced all the foam tape all over the ducting and stuff, slid the new
core in, and starting putting it back together. So I put it up, took it
down, put it up... about 4 times and I still can't get it to line up
perfectly with the holes in the wiper tray up front. I can never get it to
line up enough to get all the different screws in. It's always a little
crooked. what gives?

To make matters worse, there's no way in hell I'll be able to get those
coolant hoses back onto it. I can only grab a half inch of them, there's no
way to get any pull. All the pedals are in the way, it's a real pain in the
ass.

What am I doing wrong here? I've already spent 4 hours on it and I'm not
getting any further.  There must be some magic tool or something.

Thanks

Vince