To whoever wanted the article on repair of the blend door without
removing the dashboard. The article was printed in an industry
newsletter Called the Accumulator published by thhe Automotive Air
Group in its March-April 2001 edition.  I got it from a pdf file on
the net.  I'm sorry I do not have the link.  Perhaps you could email
the editor at jmcbride@flash.net. While this may be a fix I do not
beleive it is permanent or cost effective.  You have to buy the box
for approx. $125 from Ford in order to get the door.  You will also
find that the box and its various doors and gears has been redesigned
and beefed up to avoid a repetition of the problem. IMO  Replacing the
door by itself may still not cure the problem and a failure may be
down the road again. I had a chance to compare both th old box and the
new one when I replaced my blend door and box There are differences.
Mine was done February 2003 on a '97 EB.