I have a 1984 Cavalier station wagon.

The heater core sprung a leak.

I managed to find a new heater core (the ones for the cars with AC aren't made anymore).

Based on everything I've been able to find out, it looks like there's an access panel I can remove to get to the heater core, without having to remove anything else.

Can anyone who has done this job confirm?

I have not had to my heater core since it was done b4 I took it from my sister.However on your heater core question is does your car have AC? Reason I ask is you would always want to replace it with the exact duplicate if available.If you could share your specs I know the year and will assume its the 2.0 ohv engine code P engine.I can do some research since I have found components others could not .Ron