do any of you have advice for getting the (I wish I would quit forgetting what things are called)cowl ventilator(?) unstuck, too. I believe that it has something to do with the lever, as when I pushed on the panel or whatever you want to call it it seemed like it wanted to move.
That's the cowl vent and getting one of those freed up is a good, doable project. I just finished mine. First of all DO NOT TRY TO FORCE IT. There are hinges under there and you may just snap one of of the pins. You are going to have to invest in some good penetrating oil to do anything on your truck so get a drop light or flashlight abd get up under the dash and spray the oil on all of the nuts and hinge points. Just start at the knob and follow the linkage up to the vent itself.
You may have to remove the defroster ducts to get complete access. These are probably rotted away so don't try to save them. They are cheap and when it comes time to reassemble you'll have to get new ones anyway.
Give the oil a day to work and start trying to get the linkage to work. You must be patient and persistent with your effort... see if you can loosen the bolts that hold the linkage in and see if you can partially disassemble the parts to free them up. Remember where the parts go if you disassemble anything.
This is a simple mechanical mechanism and a great little project to work on. Just to be safe don't take it apart and let the thing sit or might forget how it goes back together. I'd say working one day on your cables and the nest on your vent is a good plan. You just have to be prepared to get dirty and take thing apart... and remember that none of this is rocket science, it's just simple mechanism and a lot of rust.
Good luck.
