[MikeOD]

Don't ask me how I broke my heater core...I couldn't tell you...it's a 3 year old car with 60K on it, but somehow I did.

I was dreading replacing it as everyone says you have to remove the windshield to get the dash tie bar out...so I'm here to tell you (if you care), that you don't need to.

I took the console out, took the steering wheel/airbag out, pulled the dash pad off, pulled the steering column out, and then I was at the 2 stupid bolts that hold the dash tie bar to the car, that hit the windshield as you unscrew them.

Step 1, get a Dremel and a cutoff wheel for it.
Step 2, go right in where the steering column was and cut as much of the bottom of the drivers side bolt off as you can, it's not doing anything after it screws into the tie bar anyways. Cut cleanly and it'll unscrew easily and screw right back in later easily as well.
Step 3, unscrew the passenger side bolt as far as you can.
Step 4, wrap the end of a pry bar with a rag so you don't scratch things.
Step 5, have your helper pry the tie bar downward on the passenger side while you continue to unscrew the bolt until it's out of the tie bar.
Step 6, keep the pry bar present until you pull the tie bar back from the firewall...if not, you'll stuff the bolt upward and probably break the windshield.

Installation is opposite of removal...be careful and make sure the pry bar is there, and it can be done.

That said...it's still an entire weekend worth of work (Saturday was disassembly and Sunday was a little more of that before assembly)...there's just a LOT of stuff to disassemble and reassemble, but my car still has the original windshield in it, using the original adhesive to hold it in place. You still can't completely remove the bolts (even the one you cut on the drivers side), but you can hold them up and R&R the tie bar to get the HVAC unit out.