There isn't much that a car is likely to need that you can't do yourself.
It's even pretty easy to get the smaller, lighter engines out.
On my Vanagon, engine removal was so easy as to be almost fun and the thing was also pretty light to move around.
Engine removal on the Aerostar would have been a nightmare.
Heck, just changing the plugs was a nightmare.
Things like clutches require a fair amount of disassembly, but none of it is hard.
The hardest part is bench pressing the transaxle back in with the car on stands.
Life would be so much easier with a lift!
After that, everything goes back together pretty quickly.
A real advatage of RWD is the ease with which you can replace a clutch.
The hardest part of a timing belt job is probably getting the bolt out of the crankshaft.
After that, it's just a matter of making sure everyhting is lined up when you slip the new one on.
I'm older now, so I farmed out the last clutch job as well as the last timing belt job.
I have a great if not cheap Honda indie for the complicated stuff, while I have an ASE Master generalist who I usually pay more than what he wants to charge for side work, since I don't feel right paying him as little as he asks for, say, a clutch replacement.
Working on our cars myself began as necessity when we were young and newly married and fairly poor.
It has continued as habit through the years.
Even if I take a car to someone for a job, I know exactly what it needs and exactly what parts should be replaced.
Never cheap out on parts by either buying cheap parts or failing to replace all of them.
It would be false economy to reuse a throwout bearing or a timing belt tensioner, for example.
I cannot guess how much money we've saved over the years just by avoiding paying someone else to do most of our maintenance and repair work.
When you develop some mechanical skills, there is also no fear in any problem.
You generally have a pretty good idea of what must be wrong and thus how much trouble and expense it'll be to fix.
