I have made a decision to keep my bus.  :) 
Thanks to everyone who contacted me and expressed their honest 
feelings about what I should do. If it weren't for this list and the 
generous support from all, I wouldn't have bought the Vanagon in the 
first place.

Anyways, I have decided to become a shade tree mechanic.

My first job was to replace the pipe with the O2 sensor that fell off 
during my trip back from San Diego. Since I live in San Francisco 
(and my street is a hill) I picked a quiet spot in Golden Gate park, 
put down plastic, and got to work. 3 hours later, I had installed the 
pipe, new O2 and  muffler. (The plastic caught all the grease, goo and 
rust) 

Cost:
Pipe, bolts, gaskets				$150.00

O2 Sensor (Bosch)				$   25.99

Diamond tipped
hacksaw blade(cut rusty bolts)	$   10.00

Grease, anti-seize, latex gloves	$   15.00

Copper strap					$      6.50

Universal muffler bracket		$      4.50

				Total		$ 211.99*

The repair shop quoted me about $325-350

*The copper strap and universal muffler mount are in replacement of 
VW's. Vw's 84 vanagon muffler strap is $65.00  and is a dealer only 
item(replaced with copper strap.)  The bar that extends down to 
support the exhaust on the left side is $45.00, another dealer only 
item ( replaced with universal mount). The repair shop quote is 
without these two items (they were rusted out and crumbled in my 
hands) so I imagine that the quote would be $460.00.

So far, the coolant has stopped leaking, and the oil has reduced its 
drip. No explainations. Positive energy?

I'm going to the library today to read up on Bentley and Xerox a few 
pages....

Matt