This raises my next question. I have the blower retaining nuts all off,
but there doesn't appears to be room to pull the flanges off all the
bolts to unseat the blower and get it down. Is it possible to do this
without removing more than the two far right dash screws? I can't
really see what's holding it back. I could remove the evaporator
(really don't want to), but that's not in the direction of movement I'm
having a problem with.

I've also removed the bottom cover, though that's mostly just given me
a better handhold.

Lots of people have said "just play with it a while." I've played with
it a while. Maybe there's something specific someone has learned from
getting it out?