I drove my 1966 VW Bus to Alaska back in 1976. It lost a rod bearing out in the wilderness on the AlCan Highway. No VW shops nearby but I had my tools with me as I was taking a job near Anchorage as a mechanic. There was a fuel station and store not far away and the owner towed me there and gave me a hand. I dropped the motor with a floor jack and took it apart. Found the bad rod and since I could not get all the parts needed I cut the top half of the rod off and used the big end as a clamp where I used a leather belt wrapped around the crank to seal off the rod journal on the crank. I re-assembled the engine and installed it and drove the remaining distance to Anchorage on three cylinders.