I've got a couple questions here about my 85 GL's transaxle.  I may be looking into rebuilding my tranny in the next year or so, and my only indication is that it tends to crunch, grind, or thunk into second gear, and some times I almost have to force it into second.  Other times it works perfect.  It usually does this when cold, but even after it has had a chance to warm the tranny fluid, it will still grind in every now and then.  How easy is it for somebody to rebuild this transaxle?  Do I need a Bently or a Haynes to do this?  If so, where can I buy one?  I do have a bit of wrench turning experience on marine diesels.  How much am I looking at for a typical rebuild?  Also, I think that I am still running the factory clutch @ 130k mi (still seems strong though, no creep with the clutch pedal down, and no slippage with my foot off of the clutch).  How many miles can one expect out of these, and how much to replace/ rebuild one of these?  Any tips?  I was also thinking that if I was to rebuild the tranny, why not throw a locker out of a Synchro into my diff.  Can this be done?  Even though my van is 2wd, I still like going off road.
    In the more short term, I am thinking of installing a set of headers from S&S and their turbo muffler.  How can I get a hold of them, like email or webpage?

TIA

-Aaron Mckay 
                                 mckayaa@oit.edu
                                 college student in mechanical
                                 engineering at Oregon Institute of Technology
                                 '85 vanagon GL

PS: This old girl of mine has left me stranded three times since I bought it from the original owner just over a year ago (blown water hose, bad half shaft, battery problems).  I lucked out all three times, because I was just a few miles from home.  Now that my commute home is 266 mi, I don't look forward to that happening again, so I am starting to subscribe to the preventative maitenence philosophy.

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