I could not sleep, so I fought to remove the #@$! nut some more.
I won. I was actually having to take pictures to see what was going on.
I found some pre-k sized needle nose vice grips (in my son's tool box) and was finally able to torque it into a bind somewhere on the cowl. I will have to touch up those scratched spots somehow; another day.
I hope none of you ever have to deal with this.
Off to sleep.
Brad