I had a bit of an adventure this weekend, I got in my vanagon to go get
my two older boys from the airport (they live with me during the
summer), turned the key and nothing!  I checked the battery, tried to
jump start it and still nothing.  The only time of the year that I
really need the thing to work and it turns on me.  Anyway, I push
started it (about a dozen times in my trip to Billings) and other than
that it ran great.  I crawled under it to see what was up this afternoon
and found that the wire from the ignition switch had fallen off.  I
cracked open the manual and started to remove the starter.  I now have
it ready to come out, except I can't get the wire from the battery off.
Is there any way to get the starter to come down out of the van with the
wire on or is there some tricky manuever or hindu chant that I can use
to get the wire off?

My vanagon is an '87 Syncro GL if that helps.  Any suggestions will be
appreciated.

Dave Williams