So that whole coolant hose business is all buttoned up and behind me.  I didn’t want to pull crank pulley, but glad I had to.  No telling time left on a 33 year old crank seal, but the o-ring was curious – it came out like a misshapen ring of taffy, pull and twist it and it retained whatever shape, no longer a ring at all.  While I was ordering seals, I got a distributor ring, just cuz.  That one came off with a hammer and screwdriver, just broke into two pieces of plastic.  Oil breather was like that a couple years ago.  I guess if it’s a seal, it needs to be replaced.

Crank pulley ain’t that bad anyway – drop muffler and tin, pull off rear bumper, punch ¾” hole in sheet metal, run out and buy a $100 tool I’ve never needed in 45 years of wrenching.  Just another day in Vanagonland.  The sweet part was I got to use one of my dad’s vintage 1940s radio chassis punches.

Thanks all for tips and moral support.
gp

From: Dennis Haynes
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2020 4:52 AM
To: Gene P; vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: RE: Water Pump Pipes

I use an impact wrench to get that pulley nut off. GoWesty has a nifty tool they throw in with their EFI kit to hold the flywheel through the torque convert bolt access hole. Tool collection growing! Use 4th gear. The torque needed to remove that bolt will easily move the van even with the brake set.