Big Chevy 3600, 50 years ago when I was a 16 year old kid I felt the way you do, that assembling an engine was way beyond anything I could ever tackle, and even if I did do it it would take forever. Lucky for me, one of my parents' neighbors was a proressional mechanic. He told me that the process is very simple and I could do it.
Being a gullable kid I believed him, and guess what? He was right! The engine in question back then was a '50 Olds V-8 that I wanted to put in a 1928 Ford roadster that was my daily driver in high school. The engine I assembled myself ran great without any problems.
I encountered the same situation much later when I restored my Stovebolt, a '36 Chevy pickup. This time it wasn't the engine work that intimidated me, it was the body work. I took it around to some body shops and they wanted to take my money to plaster it up with bondo. I wanted real metal straightening and that simply isn't done any more.
By then I was an adult in my 30's and another neighbor who was a very accomplished metal man encouraged me to do the body repair and painting myself, saying "You won't learn any younger".
Again, benefitting from the encouragement I got I dove into the project and gave it a shot. The metal straightening and rust repair was done without bondo and the painting was done using information enthusiastically provided by the manufacturers of paint products and air spray equipment. People really want to help a guy trying top learn new skills!
What was the result? I'll let you decide. I drove my '36 pickup from Southern California to the 1976 VCCA national meet in Colorado Springs, camping along the way on the desert and in the Rocky Mountains. Once in Colorado Spings I competed against the trailer queens restored with money, not elbow grease, and transported in enclosed trailers towed by motor homes. The judges gave my pickup 1st in Class T-2 (1929-36 commercial vehicles).
The message I took away from these experiences is that the only thing holding us back from success is doubt of our own ability. Once we decide to do something we can do it. If a glitch arises there are plenty of people who have been there before who will be glad to help.
Nothing matches the satisfaction of successfully completing a project that we doubted we could do.
By the way, I apreciate your comments about biology and astronomy. I am a geologist and find the arguments about climate change interesting and amusing.
