76 300D Heater Blower Motor Not Working

I found the changeover from a/c to heat problem in my 76 300D was the vacuum switch was not working so I reversed the vacuum lines on the vacuum motor and it switched from a/c to heat. (not really a repair but a quick way to get heat in a cold car) This worked fine for about 3 weeks. Then the blower motor fuse blew. I replaced it with the correct 8 amp fuse and it worked another week. After the replacement fuse blew I put in a 16 amp fuse. (not smart, but I was cold) The blower seemed to work fine, but quit a few hours later. The fuse is not blown and the smell of something melting is noticeable when the fan is turned on. Is there any way to get directly to the blower motor supply wire and just try to see if the motor is bad? If it tests bad, what is required to replace it? I know this a difficult task. I have the factory manuals and can not find any mention of replacing the heater blower motor. Maybe they put it in a section other than the climate control section. Seems odd that it has about 100 pages on the a/c system, and how to replace the a/c blower, but not a mention of replacing the heater blower. I know this will require the removal of the console which also seems to be missing from the manual. Maybe it is general knowledge how to remove it, but I have been butchering this job for about 25 years, just forcing the console back far enough to get to what needed fixing. I would really like to be able to completely remove the console. One of the problems is in removing the plate that holds the window switches. I know it would be easy but I have not figured it out. Also, do you need to remove the shifter handle? If so, how do you remove it? If you have experience in removing the console, please take the time to give me some guidance on this, I know it is just a few tricks, and it would come out easily. Thanks for any advice/help.
John

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