I was faced with the same decision in September.  I went the long block route,
though not Boston Bob, but used Fast German because I could pick it up.  No
regrets!
As far as the triple pulley, I made a flywheel holder out of 1/4 inch x 2 inch
steel with a 1 inch pipe coupling welded on. Drilled two holes to mate up with
clutch bolt holes in the flywheel, attached a 3 foot piece of pipe to the
coupling, and attached a 200 lb son to the pipe.  Used a 1/2 inch breaker bar
with another 3  foot pipe over the handle to turn the socket.  Lots of grunting,
but it came off.  Torquing back on was the same setup, but used a bathroom scale
and tape measure to get the torque set.
( Stand on scale, hold pipe at measured distance, pull UP so that product of
addition to your weight times distance equals required torque ).
Best Regards,
Chris

Brian Cochran wrote:

> Ken,
> You're absolutely correct here no doubt.  But my job pretty much consists of
> about $1050 in engine core parts (including the water pump, assorted
> hardware.   Much of my costs was buying tools for the job, fuel hoses,
> coolant hoses, tranny gaskets, engine mounts, etc. WHICH I would have
> incurred with the new block anyhow (except for those tool specific for the
> rebuild.
>
> Of course the oil pump would be already on..... Considering that #@!** three
> groove pulley held on by 150-some foot-lbs of torque,  it may be worth the
> extra $1000, since I can't get that nut off to save me!!!
> Brian Cochran
> Carnation WA
>
> >From: KENWILFY@aol.com
> >To: rangerbrian@hotmail.com, vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
> >Subject: Re: [VANAGON] (costs)happenings with home engine repair: The big
> >picture (par...
> >Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 18:36:54 EST
> >
> >I always encourage folks to get their engines rebuilt by Bob for this very
> >reason.  I sat down when I was thinking about replacing the engine in my
> >'91
> >Carat Vanagon and tallied up all the costs of the new parts that I would
> >going to need to do the job right.  It came to close to $1500.  Or I could
> >get a rebuilt engine from Bob with a warranty for around $2200 (with
> >shipping).  So by doing it yourself you only really "save" $700 and you
> >have
> >to factor in how much time and running around you are going to do and your
>
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