The best way to free up the workings of these older STI units is to soak, flush out the dried up factory lube then relube with thin then thicker stuff. "hosing out" or dunking the whole lever/pod portion is quite easy to do. It sounds like you have the flight deck version, the ribbon of wire between the pod and the inside of the lever body. If you don't ever plan to use a Shimano Flight Deck computer then just cut the ribbon, pull out as much as you can and tuck away the rest. We don't bother trying to pull off name plates. But we do remove the lever/pod assembly from the body, if the tiny pivot set screw will loosen. Using a sharp/not worn or ball ended hex wrench helps here. We have never seen a face plate be damaged with the industrial solvent tank soaking we use. Or with Clean Streak, WD40 and Thrust. Andy