After crawling around under the van I found a sheared bolt which looks
like it came from the torque converter.  At least, I think it is the
torque converter.  See here:

http://oda.bz/vanagon/2004_07/

The van started making noises about 30 miles from my house and I drove
it home.  It's on jack stands now and won't start.  Sounds like
something is jammed in the metal plate shown in the picture.  The
threads in the plate look damaged and I think there is a piece of
metal in there that was causing havoc.

I plan to take out the engine to look at the plate this weekend.

Is this the torque converter plate?  I have an automatic transmission.

If the plate is damaged, what should I do?  Should I attempt to repair
it by sending it into a shop or buy a new one.  How much would this
plate cost?

Besides dropping the engine for further inspection, any other suggestions?

I guess this puts a damper on my plans to go to Lake Shasta.  Though,
if the plate is cheap and that's the primary thing that's damaged, I
can probably drop the engine, swap the plate out and jack the engine
back in over a weekend.

Or, maybe this is too optimistic and I've got more serious problems
here because I drove the engine on the freeway for 30 miles after the
bolt sheared off?

Thanks.

Regards,
Craig