Whew!  A most thorough defense, Steve. ;-)

My .02 (we must have about $10.00 by now) is to use the Holy Trilogy:  
Haynes, for detail and experience ("Each manual is based on a compleat 
breakdown, blah, blah...); Bentley, for the tight%ss method ("using VW tool 
#3458394 and shaving all body hair before beginning work"), etc.; and 
Muir, for the how-to-do-it portion, rather how the Compleat Idiot would 
do it.  I, too, was more-or-less an 
automotive ignurt before I bought my first car (a VW, of course).  

JKH--Alburquerque
'70 Kombi (on it's way back--today=new ignition switch)