Thanks to the great people on this list I was able to get the
automatic transmission back in the van.  I've test driven it for the
past three days and it seems to be running fine.  <fingers are
crossed>

After I constructed a decent frame to hold the transaxle assembly, I
was able to put the transaxle onto the engine in about 20 minutes.

I took some pictures of the frame here:

http://oda.bz/vanagon/tranny_jack/

Tips for others that might try this at home:

  1) lowering the engine helped about 4 to 6" below normal helped.  I
loosened the frame carrier bolts on the engine holder enough to lower
the engine about 4 inches.  In order to roll the transaxle under the
engine, I raised the engine up a bit with my hands.  It was doable.

  2) It's extremely difficult to balance the transaxle on a standard
garage jack for installation and align the mounting holes onto the
engine mounting studs.  Sure, you can take the tranny off okay.  But,
you gotta but the sucker back on.  Yikes!   Building a frame for the
transaxle or buying/renting a transmission jack adapter will help a
whole bunch.

  3) I used a cheap winch I bought from Kragen.  The automatic
transaxle assembly is about twice as heavy as the manual trans
assembly.  The winch made life a lot easier when I positioned the
transaxle onto the frame

  4) The frame needs to prevent the transmission from falling off the
frame.  I used 2x4s for this.  Many people use chains.  I found that
the chains prevented proper movement of the transaxle when I was
connecting it to the engine.

Thanks again for everyone's help.  I may be able to drive the van to
vanorama in SF next month.   BTW, is there a web site for vanorama?