I don't think the prices you have been charged are out of line and this sort of work is very hard to contract out. It's a lot of work, some of it not fun work compared with swap out this or that and collect a check. If the work is satisfactory, you are very on course. Lots of guys, including myself won't pay this much (can't or won't afford it) and it causes the project to sit unattended or incomplete while we worry about costs. It is worthwhile to get your car finished sooner so you can enjoy it, especially if you don't have an interest in the mechanical aspects of things. There is no shame there. Many have no desire to dive into this sort of uncharted territory.
Though many here would chose and recommend that you buy tools and DIY, including myself, but no one here has full appreciation of the trade off between your hour income vs the learning curve for this sort of repair. I've never been good at this trade-off, even when my hours were valued higher in my expertice than spent in other trades that I could muddle into. I think [censored] near every DIY repair I have tackled, I've done over with many jobs given a second try in the learning process.
I have no doubt, given determination and tools, that you could do all this work yourself. I think [censored] near everyone on this site can do this work, given the determination, but the question comes back to optimum use of ones time and patience. That makes it a matter of optimum expenditure of one's time. If one is a computer scientist, wrenching on a water pump is probably not an optimum use of one's time, no matter their mechanical expertice. Another hour of code writing will pay for lots of mechanic time. On the other hand, if one pumps gas or works at walmart, some time spent fixing stuff twice or even three tries.. costs very little in opportunity. So it comes down to opportunity costs. Only you can chose that.
Still, I think you should put some of these jobs on your own list, such as the shocks. That gives one real world experience that is worth while. I remember shreaking after two hours of working a shock absorber nut spinning free, that I could have a high school drop-out swap out these frigging shocks cheaper while an engineer wasted all day on the job. Learning how other trades work smart, not hard is well worthwhile.
You may be well ahead of the curve on this as the heavy lifting is done. Plucking out the engine and fixing oiling and bearing problems is time consuming and not high profit work. If you have this complete, you are way ahead. Don't snip your list short while the engine is out to save a few bucks. For instance, put the BOP rear main seal in, so that never bites you again.
Please post photos of your car when it's done. That's the stuff we all love to look at! It will be great to read about you rolling down the road to car shows in your classic bird. Let us know how you do with your project. No one cares at the shows if you crancked the wrench. They want to check out the great muscle cars we all grew up with.
