Turning an A/C Swinger into a non A/C Swinger

OK gang, I think I've run in to an issue, just trying confirm the parameters here and see what my options are. Hope I don't come across as too ignorant here and not really thinking it through...

Recently, my climate control went kaput. This prompted me to remove everything from the dash bezel to try and diagnose the problem. Once I had all that stuff out and found the problem (A/C switch is toast), I decided I wanted to remove all the A/C stuff since I have this cool non-A/C radio delete panel, plus I was going to do it anyway for weight savings.

So I started looking for a non-A/C heater box so I could keep the heat in the car and the defrost for those cold mornings. I've recently learned from one Mr. Eberg that my original A/C car has a specific firewall configuration which will not allow a non-A/C heater box to fit! Aaarrrgghh!

Soooo, what can I do here? I'm thinking I have a few options, none of which are real great for my ultimate goal which is to save weight but have heat and defrost. I can obviously 1) remove the heater box entirely and just go without all the climate control stuff or 2) leave the A/C heater box in and just let it be.

I guess my questions is - can you modify an A/C heater box to remove all the unnecessary stuff, like the blend door for the A/C and all the ducting and still have it function correctly?

And two, what happens to the wiring harness when you remove this stuff? is it a stand alone part of the underdash harness than can be disconnected by itself or is it grouped into the larger harness? If I could get a heater only control would it work? Was difficult to trace back to it's origin, it's tucked way underneath everything.

My steering column will be coming out soon for a rebuild so looks like this is the time to take care of all this stuff.

I'd like to hear what some of you guys have done to remove weight and retain your heat in a 'factory'- style set up with an A/C only firewall. Am I asking too much? I'm not a big fan of stripped interiors.

Thanks for any input,

- Greg