Comments on these threads: 

1. The Vanagon was the last of the great VW bus type vehicles. 
The eurovan and the other new vehicles cannot compete for the 
reasons others have mentioned here. It is hard to think that a vw 
station wagon thing should even belong to this list as vw parts and 
service are so poor it would not make sense to buy a vw unless it 
were an absolutely unique vehicle and there were no other way out. 
This is true for Vanagon/Bus/Split Window van, not for Eurovan or 
the new thing with Ford.

2. Seems kind of a heavy request to ask someone how to replace 
the water pump when information on this is readily available in the 
manual. Seems like a better question for this list would be to ask if 
there is anything that the manual left out...or if someone has any 
special tricks to add to what is in the manual.

3. All this talk about the motor for the Vanagon seems to ignore the 
fact that this problem has been solved already. MSDS in California 
sells fine kits to get a Porsche 911 motor into the Vanagon. And 
Oettinger makes two fine 6 cylinder motors for Vanagon, one in 130hp 
trim, and the other in 190hp trim. These motors fit and were designed 
and built for Volkswagen. Volkswagen never sold them through their 
dealer network because by then they were becoming tired of the Vanagon, 
or Transporter/Caravelle as they are called over there. But Oettinger has 
been offering drive in drive out service to switch from 4 to 6 cylinder
motors. In 
Europe it is also a regular service at engine rebuild time to increase 
the size of the stock 4 banger from 2.1 litres to 2.5. There is at least 
one Vanagon (a syncro westfalia) driving around California with one of these
2.5 
litre motors. What we have to do is to induce some USA motor shop 
like FAT or some place  to develop an expertise in making 2.5 litre 
Vanagon motors out of 2.1. If a group of us would get together at 
rebuild time and give someone an order for 5 or 10 such rebuilds, then 
it could induce them to acquire the technical knowledge to do the deed 
efficiently at at a reasonable cost. I have an extra Vanagon motor waiting 
in the garage and I plan to bring it up to 2.5 litres before I put it in the
vehicle.