Date:         Tue, 27 Mar 1990 18:52:05 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         steve@molly.tn.cornell.edu (S.Smith)
Subject:      Re:  Saddest day of my car-owning life :-(

okay it happened - step back, deep breath, deal with it.

Step one - getting home - its about $1 a loaded mile so it isnt a huge bill to
get back  - alternative one, join AAA this week and after about a weel
(sorry week) take advantage of your new membership privileges ....:-)

Still fires eh?  My first guess (broken timing belt) is wrong then.
How about jumped timing belt?  Put a wrench on crank pulley and gently
turn engine over by hand - listen for expensive noises, like pistons
hitting valves ... You might want to first pull the drive belt
cover off and look for roached teeth on the drive belt, or
hanging threads, etc, in short evidence that the belt jumped a tooth
or two or several.....ugh.

If everything looks normal here i think you are getting into the
bottom end - i think you can do a fair amount here with engine in car
so all is not bad IF your case has survived intact - sorry, its a 
block, not a case here. If you have whupped a conn rod bearing, you can
slip it out, new rings and rod bearings for under $500.

Worst case - trashed engine - i think a whole block is about $2K, a 
long block is about $700 plus you have to transfer a lot of stuff.
A used engine is about $400-500 plus the dreaded uncertainty ....

Good luck Matthew - keep in touch via email (on or off list)

sps