Since you did not get much in the way of a response on this question,
here's my 2 cents. Yes, you can do a head gasket replacement with the
engine in the van. Assuming you enjoy working on your back with the
occasional coolant drip/stray piece of crud in your face, and the cylinders
don't stick to the heads so bad that you pull them off with the head.

As for special tools, only a torque wrench if you are only doing the head
gaskets and don't have to mess with cylinders. In my case, the
wasserleaker's heads were OK, a bad coolant pipe had been the culprit for
the coolant leak. But while I was in there, I found that one of the pistons
was about to self-destruct, necessitating the more indepth teardown. If you
are removing cylinders, especially replacing pistons, now you got a job
ahead of you. I found it much easier to just bite the bullet & pull the
whole engine. I hates standing on my head working on VW engines anymore.
After checking the price for the special Vanagon piston wristpin puller and
ring compressor, I did the job with a piece of threaded rod, some washers
and an appropriate sized socket, and a big hose clamp. The officail tools
are probably more efficient, I only expected to do this job once or twice
in my life.

Frank Miller

At 03:16 PM 11/20/99 -0800, you wrote:
>I am pretty much resigned to having to change head gaskets and possibly
>heads on my 1986 Vanagon - the alternate sources of leak proposed by
>list members appear to be dry.  Fortunately, the drummer in my band is
>an ex-VW dealership mechanic and will, at a minimum, offer a second
>opinion as well as possibly help do the job should I decide to tackle it
>myself.
>
>Which brings me to the question - just how nasty a job is this!  The
>book (Bentley) starts out by stating that this can be done with the
>engine in the car and then goes through a laundry list of stuff to
>remove including coolant pump, power steering pump and crankshaft
>pulley.  The latter, covered in the dreaded group 13 requires a special
>tool.  Also, once one gets the heads off, the book refers one to group
>13 for removal of the pistons and sleeves (one hopes inside the sleeves)
>to replace the seal on the other end of the sleeve.  Alas, this step
>also requires special tools, at least according to Bentley.
>
>This all gives rise to yet more questions, particularily for the
>mechanically impared:
>
>1)      Is this operation normally done without removing the engine?
>2)      Is the degree of disassembly called out in Bentley really required
>(in particular removal of the pully)?
>3)      What is the consequence of not replacing the cylendar sleeve seal and
>just leaving the sleeves in place (or pushing them back in if they come
>out a bit before being seperated from the head)?
>4)      Are there substitues for the various special tools called out?
>
>And, finally, the punchline:
>
>5)      What can I expect to pay if I take it to the shop!
>
>Thanks to all the list members who responded to my original query on
>this subject!  I guess it is time to either roll up my sleeves or pay
>the piper!
>
>                                Thanks,
>
>                                Art Beutler
>
Frank Miller
Alternative Business Systems
4216 Indianola Avenue
Columbus, OH 43214-2826

Tel: (614) 447-0060
Fax: (614) 263-9086
URL: www.altbussys.com