Joachim Beek wrote:

>
>
> How much of a PITA is it to do any of the engine installations
> myself?  Never done one, but I've taken plenty of things apart on my
> Scirocco...
>
> Bummed in Houston,
> Joachim
>

Joachim:
My son (16) and I just did it on  our 87.  I have done 2 aircooled engines
before, and I think that the Vanagon is easier, because the transmission can be
tilted down, and the engine itself is not as high.
There are LOTS of wires and hoses to be disconnected, you need a bunch of labels
to mark everything ( trust me, you will not remember where everything goes ).
You will need jackstands; I used two hydraulic jacks, one to hold the tranny,
one for the engine.
The Bentley has a very good description of how to do it ( remove engine ).
I found it to be a real pain to swap all of the parts; worst part is cleaning
everything up.  My engine had 185K miles, so there was grunge on exhaust,
cooling tin, etc.  Power steering fluid seemed to be the worst offender on the
topside.  The absolute worst part to clean was the oil cooler; took days to
clean out and get dry.  Make sure that you have access to a store with metric
fasteners and be prepared to buy lots of hoseclamps.  Lots of the exhaust bolts
were shot ( and I have a California van )
I bougtht a long block from Fast German Auto in Southern Cal, they were very
helpful and the longblock was beautiful, cost 1699 with 1000 core.  ( I got the
"Z-sticks" which are supposed to help
reduce corrision; 13 years and 185 K on the original is hard to beat IMHO)
In retrospect, I probably would have been better off just paying to have it
done, but I wanted my son to have an idea of the effort involved so he would
take care of the Vanagon!
Hope this helps,
Chris