Allan,

If you have a good body person, you may not need to cut much of it if any.
Something similar happened to us:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4147586
Look at the pic of the damage before and after.

Only you know it is worth fixing your van. For me it was totally worth it.
Do check the frame and metal beams at the underside of the van. They form a
"Y" look for deformities on that metal sections. Have the body shop put in
on a rack and get MANY estimates. The guy we found was a great and skillful
body man. Match the color and worked the metal. I like you was going to cut
part of the nose of another vanagon, but it wasn't needed.

Good luck,
Tony

On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 10:55 AM, Allan Streib <streib@cs.indiana.edu>wrote:

> Wife hit another car from behind in my '91 GL.  No injuries, thankfully.
>  The impact was largely just above the bumper on the driver's side.  It
> doesn't look TOO bad, but the steering is binding pretty badly.  I'm
> guessing the steering box up front was damaged, or there's some crushed
> sheet metal interfering with it.  Also the driver's door has been bumped a
> bit out of place though it will still open and close.  The door itself is
> undamaged; the damage appears to be confined to the front nose sheet metal.
>
> The van is a high-miler (over 200K) but no rust and in pretty good shape.
>  I've put in a new steering rack, ball joints, radius rod bushings, shifter
> linkage kits, fuel hoses, gas tank vents, and misc. other work over the past
> year.
>
> Wondering how much work it would be to cut off the front nose (or maybe
> just the left half of it) and replace it?  I have a welder and though I'm
> not very experienced at it am willing to give it a try.
>
> Is there likely to be any other structural distortion?  I know the front
> ends of these vans are pretty strong, so hoping it's repairable.
>
> I can post photos later today.
>
> Allan
> --
> 1991 Vanagon GL
>

--
82 Scirocco "Rodolfo"
85 Vanagon "Blubrik, El Guapo"