No, I never got it fixed. I was able to get all the screws off but could not wriggle the blower motor assembly any way to get it out. You definitely have to pull the carpet back to get at the back 2 screws. I am waiting until the weather gets a little cooler, than I am going to pull the front seats, pull the carpet right out, and try again.

The blower on mine works fine at high speeds, but occasionally hangs up at the lowest speed. I take this as a sign it will eventually give me trouble, so I went ahead and bought a new assembly from Rock Auto and will install it this summer.

OP here, sorry for a very overdue update. I heard about the GM forum merge and totally forgot about this thread, haven't been back for a while now but just got an email. Sometime during the winter I figured it out, and went ahead and bought the blower unit from autozone for around 100 bucks, just make sure you open the box and check that it looks like the one we have in our cars. Now to the process of removing the SOB....

Yeah, you will need to pull the carpet and padding as far back as you can. I had to remove the plastic rocker panel and plastic near the passenger door hinge to get the carpet to fold back far enough. Next you will need to find your inner patience and peace. I would recommend you don't do this with young kids around and/or people offended by cursing. I dropped swear after swear in the process of this job, this should be a simple removal and replacement but is truly the most PITA I've ever done on this car.

For the back two screws, I got them loose with a very short socket I had, but as you loosen them up you run out of room against the floor/firewall. So I had to take the ratchet off and turn the socket with my fingers. It was a long process but then I couldn't get the socket to turn any farther with out touching the floor/firewall, so I began using my finger to twist the screw itself (basically using my fingerprint) and twisting a 1/8' a turn, tedious as hell. Also I'm sure you noticed the blower motor is also in a very awkward position in the car, either you are on your knees outside the car twisting to reach in and under the dash, or you can try what I ended up doing. By laying on my back on top of the passenger seat with it fully reclined I had my head against the floor. As if I was laying on the ground wrenching up under a car but this was under that dash. This is what worked the best for reaching the last screws, awkward yes, painful mostly, did it work yes. No once you get the last screws out which will take you much longer then expected the next problem starts. Which lead me to posting originally. Getting the SOB out of the dash.

It will take time and more force then you feel like exerting because the fear of breaking it. The best luck I had was actually trying to push is straight down as much as you can, and try to press it through the firewall. The way the unit is made there is a gap between the housing and actual spinning fan where the shaft is, it is about a inch long, here is my best trick for this job. Once you get housing as straight down against the firewall and begin to see the fan, try to bring the fan and housing together in the front (whats facing you), like pinched together. It will seem as if your bending the fan shaft but no damage will happen your just bending plastic housing really. This will give you more room to get the rest of the fan cleared. Then comes the twisting, you might need to twist because there is a long corner piece that goes to the center part of the car, this is outlet of the air I believe. Like I said, patience and persistence pays off here, it will take a lot of wiggling, twisting, cursing and finally you will have to unit in hand outside the vehicle. Also last bit of advice, try putting the old one back in a few times. Its the same process but takes a little more force for some reason. You don't want to damage a brand new fan so practice on the old one first. I ended up putting a gouge in my fan edge, didn't really effect much but its always on my mind when I turn on the A/C. None the less it works perfect and blows like new. For re-installing the last screws it was the same tedious process as removing but I think I might have missed of the back ones, oh well. Best of luck, but remember take your time and keep your patience.

OP here, sorry for a very overdue update. I heard about the GM forum merge and totally forgot about this thread, haven't been back for a while now but just got an email. Sometime during the winter I figured it out, and went ahead and bought the blower unit from autozone for around 100 bucks, just make sure you open the box and check that it looks like the one we have in our cars. Now to the process of removing the SOB....

Yeah, you will need to pull the carpet and padding as far back as you can. I had to remove the plastic rocker panel and plastic near the passenger door hinge to get the carpet to fold back far enough. Next you will need to find your inner patience and peace. I would recommend you don't do this with young kids around and/or people offended by cursing. I dropped swear after swear in the process of this job, this should be a simple removal and replacement but is truly the most PITA I've ever done on this car.

For the back two screws, I got them loose with a very short socket I had, but as you loosen them up you run out of room against the floor/firewall. So I had to take the ratchet off and turn the socket with my fingers. It was a long process but then I couldn't get the socket to turn any farther with out touching the floor/firewall, so I began using my finger to twist the screw itself (basically using my fingerprint) and twisting a 1/8' a turn, tedious as hell. Also I'm sure you noticed the blower motor is also in a very awkward position in the car, either you are on your knees outside the car twisting to reach in and under the dash, or you can try what I ended up doing. By laying on my back on top of the passenger seat with it fully reclined I had my head against the floor. As if I was laying on the ground wrenching up under a car but this was under that dash. This is what worked the best for reaching the last screws, awkward yes, painful mostly, did it work yes. Now once you get the last screws out which will take you much longer then expected the next problem starts. Which lead me to posting originally. Getting the SOB out of the dash.

It will take time and more force then you feel like exerting because the fear of breaking it. The best luck I had was actually trying to push is straight down as much as you can, and try to press it through the firewall. The way the unit is made there is a gap between the housing and actual spinning fan where the shaft is, it is about a inch long, here is my best trick for this job. Once you get housing as straight down against the firewall and begin to see the fan, try to bring the fan and housing together in the front (whats facing you), like pinched together. It will seem as if your bending the fan shaft but no damage will happen your just bending plastic housing really. This will give you more room to get the rest of the fan cleared. Then comes the twisting, you might need to twist because there is a long corner piece that goes to the center part of the car, this is outlet of the air I believe. Like I said, patience and persistence pays off here, it will take a lot of wiggling, twisting, cursing and finally you will have to unit in hand outside the vehicle. Also last bit of advice, try putting the old one back in a few times. Its the same process but takes a little more force for some reason. You don't want to damage a brand new fan so practice on the old one first. I ended up putting a gouge in my fan edge, didn't really effect much but its always on my mind when I turn on the A/C. None the less it works perfect and blows like new. For re-installing the last screws it was the same tedious process as removing but I think I might have missed of the back ones, oh well. Best of luck, but remember take your time and keep your patience.

Sorry for the double post, second one had some edits for grammar and stuff.

I will keep your write up in mind when I try to change it again. Pictures are always helpful.

Thanks MX. I appreciate your light sense of humor with all this. So i pulled back the carpet and worked the screws out. The front 3 were easy. The back one i used the socket, then the socket between my finger, then my fingers. Got it out, but it was...fun. The last one, near the center of the car was harder. I ended up using a crescent wrench (a humourously small one). The whole blower feels like it is still screwed in...did i miss a screw? 5 total? I will try to get the thing out later. From what i can tell, pulling straight down is the key. Will update soon. Thanks everyone.
On a side note, maybe i will sell my 2000 and get a 2002, just in case i have to replace the blower again,,,

Ok, i think missed the 6th screw. More later.

Hey. Got is changed out, and the new one works great. Thanks.

Once you got the screws, was there any "trick" to getting the assembly out?

The only thing was making sure the wires and foam gasket are out of the way. The housing around the blower is pretty flexible. I tipped the motor down towards the floor and made sure the blades cleared the housing.

The new fan, Factory Air at Advance Auto, was harder to get in. One wire, closer to the passenger side, is mounted outside the housing. It is best to move it before putting the new one in. Slide the back of the blower into the housing first. Then, the blower must be flexed, along with the ducting, to get the new one in. There is a shroud around the new fan which does not clear the housing easily.

Once it is in, the one i had did not fix exactly right. There is a collection of wiring harnesses with a case, which needs to be tilted to get the new lip flush with the housing. Its then bolts back in.

The model i had, noted above, is nice for two reasons. The first is the female connection on the fan is connected to a wire, not built in to the housing like the OEM version. Secondly, the motor on the blower can be replaced again without taking out the blower mounting.

If you want some pictures, please let me know. Its not too bad. The new blower mount can take some bending, etc. so do not be too gentle. It take some work to get in and an out, as MXMASTERMITCH notes above. Good luck.