Well, perhaps you didn't read Bob Johnson's post that actually started this thread! He removed the front timing cover without pulling the heads...no problem. You simply didn't need to do it. It would save you hundreds.

Most of the labor IS in pulling the heads, machining the valve seats, resetting all 32 valves, rocker arms, cam towers, camshafts, head gaskets, etc. 1/2 hour for valvetrain and a few hours for heads? Clearly you haven't taken apart one of these motors before...