One list member replied to this a while back.  I've used it and it seemed
to work great.  I'll paste his reply below.

        Complaints about archive access appear all of the time here.  The
archive
searching is a slow process and many browsers time out before the results
are found.  There are alternatives.  I never search the archives from the
web page.  I find it much more convenient to search via e-mail.  You mail
your search request to the server and 5, 10, or sometimes 15 minutes later
the results are mailed back.  It works great, you can go surf your
favorite
sites or whatever and get the results when you return.  Coyote sent me a
URL with the specifics on how to do lots of complex searches, I have since
lost it, but the basics are:

The following is an example message:
>From:               (whoever you are)
>To:            Listserv@Gerry.Vanagon.Com
>Subject:       blah
>
>Search Brake Drum in Vanagon

In return, you will receive a listing of posts about "Brake" or "Drum"