Advice Regarding Complete Front-end over-haul

[dlb]

ha, you got me brenton. i'm really new to doing this stuff without my dad's supervision and have much learning to do still, but i can do lots of routine maintenance myself now, thank god. i just put a 4A in my car and have the 3A on my workbench so i'm going to take it apart and put it back together so that i can have a better understanding of how the different engine components work together. right now, i know that there are intake and exhaust valves but i couldn't tell you where they are or what they look like or how to adjust them, and that's the sort of stuff i need to understand the system and be able to troubleshoot engine problems on my own.

sometimes the knowledge some cats on here have is intimidating but everyone has been really helpful when i've run into problems i couldn't solve. this forum is so superior to any manual i could own, it's such a great asset to have at our disposal.

[ARCHINSTL]

I don't care if you don't know an intake valve from an exhaust - you switched out engines (with an upgrade, yet!) - so I'm impressed!
Tom M.

[Petros]

The more you do, the more you know, and the better and more confident you will become. And you will make mistakes, expect them and learn from them. Redoing a big job is a hard lesson learned, but fortunately taking it apart a second time to fix it properly does not usually cost much, just some time and a few choice words. And that is far less costly than paying someone else to learn on your car.

[ARCHINSTL]

And that is far less costly than paying someone else to learn on your car.

I think Petros said a mouthful with his last sentence.
How many techs are out there, even at a dealership, who can successfully work on our vintage of (fill in the blank) cars without hauling out the FSM - and adding to the cost? They may have their special tools (buried in the attic), but usually it is not too hard to improvise.
A friend had to take in his '80-something Datsun to the dealer for some kind of front-end work; he asked for a "mature" mechanic to work on it, figuring the OF would know better/easier/quicker how to deal with it - he was snottily rebuffed by the service manager. He wound up finding a retired Datsun wrench on CraigsList.
Tom M.