Bummer man.
I hope that's all of the CPO's bad work.
I know what you are talking about all right.
I think one of the more appalling 'incorrect' things I've seen done is where
someone 
brazed the speedo cable to the bearing cap on the left front wheel. 
Now THAT is messed up ! 

Alternator mounting is traditionally weak on waterboxer vanagons.  So go
over that really carefully.
The right 'carriage bolt' ..with the round top and the square underside  ,
is what is supposed to go on the bottom of the alternator, and it goes in
starting from the forward side, which is very hard to do.  Commonly I find
the wrong bolt here.

Also, where the bracket bolts to the block, those have been none to get
loose, or even have the stud/s break off in the block, so check that area
carefully too.
I often find noisy alternator bearings, so be sure to spin the alt. by hand
while you have the belt off to check it. 
Scott
www.turbovans.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Mike S
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 4:53 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: I really hate CPOs.

CPO=Clueless Previous Owner

In the past couple of months, I've found that the CPO, or a wrench
money he hired, installed non-Vanagon rear shocks, and in the process
squeezed the mounting brackets about 15mm narrower than they should be
- that was a PITA to get right.

More recently, I found that the alternator was bolted with only 1
metric fastener. There was a 5/16" self tapping and a 3/8" machine
screw, both in spots where 8mm should have been. The 3/8" means that
even a standard Helicoil won't fix it properly.

And what does it tell you when you can easily remove a rear axle nut
with a 1/2" breaker bar? Last but not least, I had to cut off the heads
of 5 of 6 bolts on one CV joint because the Allen heads were buggered.

Grrr.