Neil,
  Just pack up the tent and head out for a day or two.  You don't NEED to
camp only in your vanagon, you know.

  One of the drawbacks with DYI projects is the time they take.  Another
head-scratcher is the way some people approach their projects..At least you
seem to still remember  why you want the vanagon to work...Many get so
wrapped up and spend so much time working on their toys that they forget the
main reason they even started..
  .While working in a boat yard for a while, I observed that only about 1%
of the people who owned  their cruising boats ever 'finished' them enough to
take off on their long- planned 'round the world' voyage...All the others
clung to the delusion that "We'll be sailing,... as soon as we________
the________,"     Thousands of little things they simply HAD to finish
before they thought they could actually get started sailing...They never did
even go out on day sailing trips..Ended up just working on the boats for
years..

  You'll make it...
  Don Hanson