I have done this job more times than I would care to count.  Most of the
time the front heater core is fine.  Unless you are smelling coolant smell
from the dash it is probably OK.  Also the front fan resistor is usually
also fine unless someone left the frozen fan on with a higher amperage fuse
or something and fried it that way.  Usually the fuse will blow when the
fan freezes up.  That is the time to replace it.  As Dan said many times it
is just the switch.  If you take the old one out, and pop it apart it is a
very simple part.  You can usually clean up the contacts by scraping a
razor knife over the points, pop it back together, and it is as good as
new.  I am saying this because quality new switches are getting hard to get
or can be from time to time.

Finally the fan itself.  I have had the best luck with the Meyle fans.  I
know some folks hate all Meyle products no matter what, but their fans are
usually the best made.  The are a copy of the OE fan, and work and fit
correctly.  I always test the fan BEFORE I put the dash back together
though just to be sure it isn't defective (I have had one like that in
about 10 years so not very likely).

The time, it takes me 4 hours from start to finish and this includes
changing the interior foam seals for the flaps.  I remove the air box,
clean it with soap and water, wipe down the metal area inside the van that
is full of dust, replace the seals, install the new fan, and reinstall the
resistor and front heater core.  We charge $125 an hour.  Not sure why it
would take 16 hours unless you were doing a bunch of other things at the
same time.  It is a great time to replace your brake booster, or master
cylinder, or pedal assembly, new radio, replace the entire air box with the
front Air Conditioning and heater box combo, etc.

HTH.

Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com

On Sat, Mar 11, 2017 at 2:01 AM, Neil N <musomuso@gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, i wont speak for Mark but 4 hands speeds things up!
>
> On Friday, March 10, 2017, David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:
>
> Haha, does this mean Mark has beaten his previous boast of 45 minutes to
> > take it out and put it back in again?
> >
> > Curious minds are curious.
> >
> > Yrs,
> > d
> >
> >
> > >
> >> > On Mar 10, 2017, at 1:10 PM, Neil N <musomuso@gmail.com
> >> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','musomuso@gmail.com');>
> >> > <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','musomuso@gmail.com
> >> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','musomuso@gmail.com');>');>> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > Well, since its friday....
> >> >
> >> > A certain well known Vanagon-ite and i recently set out to see how
> fast
> >> we
> >> > could remove a dash. It took 7 minutes, 45 seconds.
> >>
> >
>
> --
> Neil n
>
> Blog: Vanagons, Westfalia, general <http://tubaneil.blogspot.ca>
>
> 1988 Westy Images <https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/New1988Westy>
>
> 1981 Westfalia "Jaco" Images, technical <http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/>
>
> Vanagon-Bus VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>
>

--
Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com