A little progress on disassembly:
a picture of the heat strips:
and because I was wondering if it actually had limit switches:
I plan on removing the exterior fan blade and replacing it with a Spal type car radiator fan (not sure if I can find a 120V fan that's suitable) for defrost, and retaining the stock motor and blades for the interior section. the only minor concern is the motor is an air-over motor, so a failure of the external fan would be bad. not an issue for the winter, as i can't imagine the motor would need extra cooling, but it would be bad if the condenser fan failed to operate in the summer. I can fit about a 12" fan in there without significant modifications to the shroud. I'll set it for intake (like one would a normal full size split) so it's easier to clean the coils without full disassembly.