[answering myself here I guess]

I pulled the relay and got it open for a look at the contacts. They were
somewhat burned so I cleaned them up a bit, put the relay back and got
it to not start within minutes. With the switch on and the fan motor not
running I reached over and popped the bottom of the motor with my hand.
It started right up.

So I pulled the blower and eventually got it apart enough to see the
commutator which had a few blacker than the others spots. I cleaned that
all up with a small wire brush/Dremel tool and put it all back together.
We'll see now what happens over some time, but I suspect that was it.
Just a dead-ish spot on that commutator.

And BTW, I got the distinct feeling that Honda did _not_ mean for that
motor to be removed from the plastic housing for service. What a pain in
the arse.

'Curly Q. Links' wrote:
> gmccx wrote:
>
>>The heater/AC blower has gotten slightly flakey a few times lately where
>> it just doesn't turn on with the switch but after trying it several
>>times it eventually starts and runs fine.
>>
>>I can see in the Honda manual a few places that could cause this...
>>underwood relay, the switch itself, the resistor pack, etc.
>>
>>Is there any track record for the 95 Del Sol/Civic cars as to the most
>>likely failure point for this?
>
>
> ---------------------------------
>
> Have you had problems with rain dripping on the passenger's floor in the
> past?
>
> 'Curly'