My "new" '74 Duster- or why I need a project like a hole in the head

Hey Blu, couple of questions for you:

When you cut your dash, did you have to cut the left side of the opening as well? Been looking at some pictures and just noticed that it looks like you did. I assumed that the left side would be ok, just the right side that had to be cut.

Also, been looking at pictures of the earlier heater box and the later one. Looks like the mix door mounts similarly so that swap wouldn’t be too bad, but the earlier box mounts the cable for the mode door on the opposite side so the controls would work backwards. Could the ‘71 down cable be mounted to the ‘74 heater box and the controls just work backwards?