Pulling heads & cylinders from a VW Vanagon, ...can it be done without pulling the engine? Options

[Radmacdaddy]

Anyone who reads this and knows who it's from knows that I am in a time crunch. I will be with me new van in two days time, so will know more then, and could possibly answer this question myself...

anyway... I see pics of the heads being removed from a 70's vw van while the engine is in the van here: http://benplace.com/heads.htm

So, my question is, is this also possible on a vanagon with the updated design... mine is a 1980.

Finally, is there any reason I can't go further and remove the cylinders as well from there?

Ultimately, I am thinking this is far quicker than my newbie self removing the engine, without all the tools at hand without having to build them or buy them (I'm $ crunched too (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif))

Thanks for any thoughts... this has been a great active forum!

[Radmacdaddy]

I HAD to do it!!

And it hasn't been bad, until now...
I replaced a head with a dropped valve after picking up the van, got on the road and en route one of the rocker arm bolts snapped. Got that fixed thanks to the awesome guys at Dougs Bugs & bunnies in Phoenix. But after leaving there, after being pointed out that the oil smoke blowing out my oil filler hole was sign of some toasting or toasted rings... I hoped on the road to see how it would go. It went from bad to worse & now I am in a parking lot in Phoenix with my engine half apart... Which went very quickly, as did the ring replacement on #1. Number two though is being a bear.

I can't get the rings to compress enough to allow the cylinder to slide back on. I used the old ring to try & scrape out the seat a bit, but beyond that I am stuck. What can I do. From here in my position? Any suggestions?

The is urgent & I'll take any advice anyone can offer please!