My dad and I sent the head and cylinders out to be machined, but did the assembly work ourselves, largely on the driveway and using tools from Harbor Freight (torque wrenches being among the biggest exceptions...). Not too hard, especially with the tuner community in the mix.
Many auto stores lend (not rent) specialty tools (torque wrenches, pullers, etc..). You basically get charged the full value of the tool onto your credit card, but you can use it and return it and get a full refund. If you don't ever return it, they consider it bought. Some let you keep it 90 days, some don't have any deadline to return at all.
The only problem I really have is logistical - I need two cars for me and my wife to get to work. Having my car tied up in a rebuild for a significant period of time would suck. Buying a new car to keep two operational cars in the fleet defeats the purpose. Maybe the thing to do is to preemptively buy a used engine/transmission, rebuild that, then swap it in. I would have another engine kicking around, and I don't have much space to keep it in.
Plus I need to worry that as a rookie I'd eff up something in the rebuild and have to do it all over again, maybe having a car out of commission when I can't afford it.
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