i've got an '84 van with the four speed transmission (224,000km) which 
made a big "clunk" when i put it in reverse last weekend. after i did the
required backing up, and tried to put it into 1st, the shift lever wouldn't
budge. i had to muscle the thing quite a bit to get it out of reverse, but
it worked fine for all the forward gears.

now it is hard to get into reverse, and i have to push the lever down 
(towards the floor, like when you put it IN reverse) so that the lever
jumps over to the 1st position (the transmission is still in reverse) 
and move the lever from there, to 2nd and then back to 1st. 

there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the linkage, so the problem
must be in the transmission itself...

i'm going to take out the selector shaft, to see if that's the problem...
and if it's not, i guess i'm screwed.

the transmission works fine otherwise, no grinding, or other noise.
it does, however, leak lots of goo from the selector shaft hole, but
i assume this is just a bad seal.

-does this sound like something that can be fixed without too much
 hassle? (like a bent fork or something)
 (hassle being a relative term...)
-were can a person get a new/rebuilt/used 4 speed in western canada?
 (i phoned vancouver, and the place i talked to said that they've had
  a run on vanagon parts...new transmissions from VW are $2,500)
-does anyone want to buy an '84 westfalia for parts?