Ok, first of all I want to appologize for some mis-information before. According to my shop manual for the 2000, the new location of the blower motor and fan is indeed inside the passenger compartment. Even though you can see the fan and motor from under the hood when you pull the filter, in order to remove the blower fan and motor you have to take apart the lower dash on the passenger side. I never remembered seeing it in there, but I followed the manual and of course there it is. Also, the power connector for the blower motor can only be accessed from inside the car, its actually fairly easy to simply disconnect it. When I finally got to the point where I could put my hand on the blower motor assembly and run the stupid thing, I can actually feel it knocking in sync with the noise it is making. Seems pretty clear that this is a problem within the blower housing. But here is the problem, Following exactly the procedure outlined in the shop manual, I can see NO way that this motor can be removed. The floor pan is literally in the way, Ive got the carpet stripped back, only a rubber padding is left, but I can't see that it is thick enough to give me the clearance I need. There is no way to remove the rubber padding without cutting it, it is bolted up with the magnesium dash frame. The fan is about nine inches tall with the motor and it is about 5 inches off the floor pan, I hope one of the GM techs reads this because I am completely stuck right now, even if I get the damn thing out of here with brute force, how will I get the new one installed?? The design has completely changed since the pre-2000 model year and it must be the stupidest thing I have ever seen. I spent 42 bucks by the way on special adapters and flex shafts just to remove the screws.