Replacing Motor In Fan Heater Unit

[Tufty_B]

Surprise, surprise my fan motor needs replacing, so far I have removed the dash (once I'd disconnected the glovebox light and the Wesbasto timer ) in my LHD Caravelle Syncro to get to the heater unit, but it is now too dark to go further.

I have read and reread the wiki and also some forum threads, inc this one:
Replacing heater blower on a Syncro

My question is, can I replace the fan motor without taking off the water hoses and the heater unit out? I ask because the wiki says you do but the pics in the forum above seem to show the unit still in place.

If I do need to remove the hoses, can someone provide a link to some appropriate hose clamps.

Hopefully I will get a chance to have a look in daylight tomorrow.

I have noticed that the dash and fan unit have been apart in the past, which so far has not been a bonus with damaged instrument panel, dodgy wiring and hacked about dash for the dash tidy

[dbz864]

You don't need to remove any pipes.The job isn't as bad as it looks.Still a pain tho

[Tufty_B]

Help!

I have got the heater box loose (only lost one screw so far) and can move it but it is catching on something and I think that something is the 'Air distributer' (Bentley 80.12) / 'duct to rear passenger area' (Haynes chap3, diag 11.1A).
Can someone describe how I get this off, it seems a bit chicken and egg as to whether this or the heater box comes off first or is it likely to be something else that needs removing/unscrewing?

Here is a pic of the duct on the floor between the seats:

[Tufty_B]

I'm hoping to get a look at getting the heater box open this afternoon after work, does it just needs moving slightly forward (a few inches) to get at the rear clips or does it come further out without removing the water hoses?
The hump over the fan motor catches on the underside of the windscreen frame because the lower edge of the heater box catches on the Air distributer (see post below), does it out further, if so are there any hints as how to manoeuvre it out?

Thanks.

[Tufty_B]

I didn't get time yesterday to have a look at the fan, but did this afternoon.
I eventually got the heater box forward enough to get it open after I could see in daylight that it was catching on the air distributer. Once I'd worked out how to lift the rear of the air distributer past the seat belt mounts and tilt it, I was then able to manoeuvre the heater box out just enough to get the clips and previous owner's sealant off.

I'm now left with another problem in that the connectors on the fans are different, see photo (new=left, old=right), I guess that the best way to sort this is to either chop off the new connector or change one of the crimped loom connectors and shove them into the new connector: