No further replies necessary. Project finished.
For those doing this in the future, fold the bottom of the back seat forward, and remove the seatbelt anchor bolt to get at the trim along the rear door sill.
Be sure to line up the clips on the panel covering the rear seatbelt mechanisms, and yes--you do have to remove the rear seat latches. Watch the size of your torx bit--there are several bolt heads which feel good with a T-25 until you need to bear down, then you find that you have stripped a T-27.
Re the trim around the hood release: if you have remembered to remove the screw at the bottom first, and have loosened up the trim on the door sill,you can get enoug slack by gentle prying to get the cable under there without having to learn how to take it off completely.
A stubby flatblade screwdriver will do for finagling the rubbery trim strip over the plastic if you are careful. If I were going to do a lot of this,I'd take the stubby and round all the edges.
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We have met the enemy and they is us. [Pogo] S70 T5 cop car : Rough Rider tires& suspension, Walmart fog lights, eBay speakers, ambiance by Pall Mall, trim by Le Duc d'Tape, 8-channel THD by OEM amps