smiling cause I was in the same boat as you 3 years ago.
Sounds like you're in a good position to begin this hooby. Hardest part for us was the first 6 months learning. Do searches on this forum with questions (most topics have been covered and answered before) read the parts books as it helps, take lots of pictures as you dissassemble. Vikki has a real good site with technical information here: http://thefirstgensite.com/
Probably need to double that budget #. Once you get into it you'll change your mind on things like oh.. I gotta go back and do that dash because it's got a crack.. stuff like that. It all adds up.
Use this site as a support group.. we all had times of discouragement and the folks here can give you that lift.
Google things like "pickle fork" wikipeda explains it all.
Heck, one of my first posts was asking where the water pump inlets/outlets were. Just enjoy the journey!