I did my cowl and it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I used a little spot weld cutter that I bought from Harbor Freight for 5 bucks in my drill and that did the job on removing the outer cowl shell.
Did my '69 1/2- took the cowl cover completely off. On my '76, I cut into the cowl cover. Won't try that again! Totally removing the cover is the way to go! Used the same HF weld cutter and lots of oil to keep things cool. Patience is the key.