In case it wasn't obvious in my previous post, the sawhorse goes inside
the van, over the top of the engine.

Don Hundt wrote:

>  when I removed my engine, rather than use a jack or engine crane, I
> built a stout sawhorse out of 2 x 4s, attached a come-along to the
> sawhorse and engine, raised the rear of the van and lowered it out the
> bottom. better than balancing it on a jack.
> Don
> p.s.if anyone worried about the strength of my sawhorse, the 2 x 4s
> are  doubled into a t cross section on top, reinforced heavily on the
> legs. a friend of mine also used it to remove an 800lb.+ detroit
> diesel block from his school bus : )
>
> Paul Borghese wrote:
>
>>  Hi, Recently my 1985 Vanagon started idling rough (that is an
>> understatement).  I bought a compression tester and checked the
>> cylinders.  It turns out cylinder 4 has a compression of 75 while
>> the others are >130.  After dumping some oil into the spark plug
>> hole, the compression jumped to 175 then slowly fell back down.  So
>> I want to remove the engine and take a look. Here is a few questions
>> about the removal of the engine: 1.  How heavy is the engine.  Once
>> I get it off the van, is it staying put?  Or can I move it around?
>> 2.  What type of jack(s) should I use to remove the engine.  I have
>> a hydraulic jack with a 6 inch plate on top.  Will that work or
>> should I buy something else? 3. Once I remove the engine, does it
>> take any special skill or expensive tools to rebuild an engine?  Is
>> it something I should be able to do with a copy of the Bentley
>> Manual?  Any ideas on where to buy replacement parts? Thanks, Paul
>> Borghese
>
>

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