[el andrew]

Haha wow that not a bad plan! I'll think that option through too.

So if I'm understanding correctly, the reason the dash comes out is so the heater core can be maneouvered enough so that the pipes through the firewall clear the cabin side of the firewall. By cutting the pipes, less front to back clearance is needed.

The other the thing I'll do (once I confirm it is the core) is get another couple of quotes as he only had a quote from Ford. If I can get a significantly cheaper quote than might impact the decision too, especially if I do the other things it needs myself.