SUCCESS Removal of Factory intake drive screws

Since I didn't get any suggested method of removing the drive screws, I just jumped in and tried what sounded like should work...

Trial #1: Tried using a vice grip to bite into the screw head, but since it was a round headed drive screw, there wasn't enough edge to get a good grip on, so using a cutoff wheel, I cut a groove in the center of the head to see if using a large blade screwdriver would work. Sadly all it did was roll out the groove.

Trial #2: I grabbed my can of KROLL and shot each screw with a bit of penetrant and let them soak for about 15 minutes before trying again. I next took the cutoff wheel and cut off each side of the slotted drive screw head about the with of what I though the screw body might be and then tried again to grab the head of the screw with the vice grip but because my cuts weren't exactly parallel, the vice grip kept popping off.

Trial #3: With the edges of the first drive screw not flat, I took a good sized pin punch and hammer and started driving the screw ccw to get the teeth from releasing. I could see that the head was turning but because of the initial slot cut into the head, only the head was turning and finally broke free of the screw body.

Trial #4: On the next screw, I again took the cutoff wheel and trimmed off the sides of the head to again give me a flat surface to work from. Tried the vice grips again and had the same result as before because the side weren't parallel, so took the hammer and punch and began driving the screw ccw and could see the head slowly turning. After a few more taps, I heard the thin metal shield "ting" so I figured the it might now be loose enough to use the vice grips on it and VOILA the screw turned a bit and came right out intact!!

I repeated #4 again on the third drive screw and it came out just as easily as the previous screw did.

So the trick is to first hit the screw with some penetrant, let it soak in a bit, trim off one side of the drive screw to give you a vertical face to work against and then use a pin punch to drive the screw ccw to release the teeth.

If the area is really crusty, perhaps hit the screw with some heat to enlarge it slightly and break loose any rust that may be seizing the screw into the material.

Hope this is helpful to someone else in the future!