It's a New Year, but the same old Vanagon

The blue bus has seen many New Years.  Anyway, I have ordered the new starter (. . . gulp . . . $150), but after the alternator fiasco and the one-foot-in-the-grave release bearing it seems the only rational thing to do.  I hope this is the last financial hurdle we have to leap before this project is done.
I have removed the old starter, which is worth $20 as a core trade-in on the new (actually, rebuilt) starter.  The new starter is due in, at latest, next Friday (1/6/!2012!).  So in the meantime, I will mate the trans and engine, drag both of these underneath the van, and ready them for installation.  I will also have to separate the power steering pump from its hoses.  The Bostig instructions and video have this step as part of removing the engine.  I decided, instead, to un-bolt the PS pump and wire it to the sidewall until after I got the engine out.  I had two reasons for this:  1)  No matter how it's done, disconnecting the PS pump will result in spilled oil, which will be easier to catch and clean up if it's done after the engine is out of the way;  2)   I can hold the PS pump higher than its reservoir tank as I disconnect the hoses, and then cap the hoses and reduce the amount of leakage.  Clever, huh?  I'll let you know if it actually works better that way.
I have also decided to renew the boots on the transmission shaft.  These are inexpensive (comparatively!), and combined with a cleaning and re-lubricating of the shift linkage, should improve the feel of the shift linkage.  It's probably the last time I'll have access to new parts for this stuff, too.  The digrams in the Bentley manual for VW don't show clearly how the shift linkage comes apart, but I perceive a couple of likely methods, and unless one of them destroys the linkage, you'll only hear about how well it went.
Fly-in-the-ointment time, though.   After many misleading days of moderate temperatures, it's now forecast to be in the upper 20's (F, for my Canadian friends) Monday through Wednesday.  Except for nights, which are set to be 13 on Tuesday morning, 10 on Wednesday.  I may have a hard time warming up the work area.