over the past weekend, as i was driving through the sierra nevada mountains,
my clutch suddenly stopped disengaging with the pedal completely depressed.
this was evidenced by the vehicle lurching forward as the starter was
cranking the engine with the tranny in first gear and the clutch pedal on
the floor.  subsequent gear shifts could not be accomplished without
shifting into neutral and rev matching.  i am assuming this is not a problem
with the clutch hydraulics because the clutch has been making a rattling
noise when partially engaged (while parallel parking for instance) for a few
weeks.  also, pumping the pedal does not cause the clutch to disengage and i
did not observe any fluid leakage by the clutch master or slave cylinders.

so, assuming that i am looking at a clutch replacement, which i do not have
the time or location to tackle myself, here are my questions:

what is the best, highest performance, clutch that can be purchased for the
vanagon?  i see that volks cafe, my normal parts source, offers both a sachs
and luk version, with the latter costing more.  is this the best clutch
available?

is there other work i should have performed on the transmission while it is
out?  i don't know how many miles the vanagon tranny is good for, but it
seems that if i am going to pay to have it removed and reinstalled, having
it rebuilt, or replaced with a rebuilt one might be worthwhile.  which of
those is the recomended alternative?  and should i have the main crank seal
replaced?

is this a typical failure mode, that the clutch will cease to DISengage?  i
would have expected to notice clutch slippage, or a failure to engage
completely, as the first sign of extended wear.

the van is an '87 westy with 158,000 miles.  i bought with 85,000 on the
clock and neither i nor the prev owner had any clutch work done.

thanks for any info.

Ben.