The valve cover gaskets aren't hard to do, but getting all of the interference out of the way is a pain. Although, it can all be done with normal hand tools. The timing belt requires a lot of interference removal as well. I'd recommend doing them both together along with the water pump. The battery, terminal, spark plug, wires, and tune up stuff is trivial. I say roll up your sleeves and get after it! Also, contact VR4 if you want an updated axle. I think he said to someone else that he had one available. Good guy who gave me a pretty good deal on the same thing, and he's in your neck of the woods.

HTH