This is that 1 job nobody likes to do, but since I want my Air conditioning to work on "Old yeller" I bite the bullet and get the hard stuff out of the way! The heater core is 5 times easier to replace than the evap. core.
I remember doing this job 2 or 3 years ago, it went ok but I snapped the brittle old cable to the temp controls so I had to wait for a replacement half way through. That job is annoying enough to consider cutting the fire wall instead.