Thanks to everyone's helpful replies to my question, I had an uneventful
time pulling my 2.1 with ease. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, in fact.
The hard part came in using a block and tackle to pull the engineless van
into the back year again so I could get my driveway back.
I put a metal sawhorse in the engine bay after making two 2 x 4 "feet" for
the sawhorse--I drilled shallow 1 1/2 inch recessed with a forstner bit in
the two by fours the exact distance apart as the sawhorse legs so the legs
wouldn't creep or mar the paint over the engine compartment.

I slung my trusty chain hose over it and didn't break anything. It came
right out.

Jim

On Sat, Jun 21, 2008 at 11:50 AM, The Westy man <zolo@foxinternet.net>
wrote:

> Yes.  I wrote a message that I put 7-8 inches of blocks under the tranny.
> Well, that is good provided that the car is not higher than one wheel just
> barely off the ground.  With the winch system when I lower the engine to
> the
> ground onto the drip pan that I pull out from under the car with a thin
> rope
> attached to it, that is enough.
> If one does all kind of other things that are more difficult and much more
> trouble, you would need to improvise to accomodate that.  That's why I
> designed the most simpleist, fastest and easiest way.  And I would do it
> this way even if I had a car hoist.
> Zoltan
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Paul Guzyk" <paullist08@GUZYK.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2008 7:40 AM
> Subject: Re: Almost ready to pull 2.1--questions
>
>
>  That's the gist of it.   It will clear as long as the muffler tin
>> comes down with the engine.
>>
>> When the engine is down a few inches, double check you have removed
>> all cooling lines, electrical wires, fuel lines etc.  You don't want
>> to stress any lines that you neglected to disconnect.
>>
>> Hold the (lowered) tranny up with a jackstand once you have the engine
>> out.
>>
>>
>>> This seems to allow the engine enough room to miss the rear sheet metal
>>> (looks like it's gonna be tight) as it clears the input shaft and then
>>> lowers.
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
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>>
>>
>>