How does one get at the heater core on the 82?
 

I have the Haynes and it shows a nice easy job. Unfortunately, I just looked at it and I think they missed a few steps to get at the nice easy part. How hard is it to remove the entire dash casting? I was thinking that I should disassemble all the HVAC ducting, to remove all the garbage and whatever may be living in there, so it might be easier if I pull the whole dash.

I haven't done one on a four-eyed car, yet. I did my '93, and it was a royal PITA. I've heard that you can go through the glove box, without completely dropping the dash, on the early cars (whether they have A/C or not), but I personally haven't done it.

do you have factory a/c? if you don't, then its as simple as dropping the glove box lid, taking out 2 bolts and sliding it out (of course after you take the hoses off also). if you do have factory a/c, then its not so simple. the dash will have to come out. well, not all the way out, just pulled out enough to get the box out. its not as bad as it seems, just time consuming at first. I've done 4 of them on the 4 eyed cars and just put one in my 86 a couple of months ago. only took about 4 hours that time. let me know what you have and I can try and guide you through the removal of your dash, if you have factory a/c. you don't have to remove every screw and bolt in it, I did my first time and it took a full day to do it.

My 82 does have factory ac. The HVAC controls are also shot, so I was thinking that removing the dash would give me a chance to clean all the ducts and free up the cables. How does the dash casting come out? Is it necessary to drop the column?

no, its not neccesary to pull the dash out all the way. here's what I do: remove the hoses (underhood). remove the glove box lid, then remove the dash pad. about 6 screws at the defroster vents and it should come right off. be careful, as they dry up a lot and will crack when you take it out if you're not careful. you'll see a lot of screws on top of the dash. only remove the ones that have a hex head. (that is if someone didn't replace some of them with phillips head). its a good idea to unhook your speedo cable from the cluster too, as you can pull the dash out to far and break the tab that holds it on. now, there are 2 bolts, one on each side that need to be taken out. they are located on the bottom corners of the dash.kinda under it a little. you'll see the braces that run into the dash where the bolts are. now you can go ahead and take out the bolts for the box. one on the bottom and a couple that run through some braces at the front. the vertical brace can just be unbolted at the box and swung out of the way. its ok if it bends, it'll bend back. be sure to unhook the electrical connections and the vacuum connections. then slowly pull on the dash from the passenger side (helps to have a friend do the other side). the box shoukd pull out and you should be able to remove it from the bottom of the dash. it'll take a little twisting and turning but it'll come out. if this doesn't help, check out foureyedpride.com. one of the guys there did a write up of it w/pics. do a search or look up v8only's posts. hope this helps.