I guess pulling/swapping an engine as a one man or one woman task is more a mental block thing than a physical thing. It does separate the oil and brake pad changers from the ones who really love working on their cars... It can be humorous like when you are sure you know your car so well you dont label your parts carefully and put them all over your garage floor..and then you have 14 odd bolts left over when the engine is back in..
I've done all of mine solo. Thats nothing to brag about --all it says is that I never could count on my older brothers for much except for a punch in the nose when I was a kid--I wonder what it would have been like to have a close brother like the neighbor across the street--his brother is helping him build his garage...
I don't know what the one man record is...maybe we could sponsor a engine swap contest (via webcam, as proof)...Its pretty easy from April to June and September to November and it always draws a few stares from your neighbors. I would guess it could be done in an extended weekend starting from Friday morning to Monday night. an be
I guess its up there with putting on your own siding or redoing your own driveway with a pick ax as a labor intensive project. I don't mind doing it if the car I'm going to do it on will get me another 60K and its a quality engine or car, but if its something mundane, it can be very distasteful..
My own story is once in 93 my wife and daughter went back to the Far East for the Winter and left me without anything to do, so I got an RX7 and redid the engine and trans. On the day I swapped the engine back in, it started snowing pretty heavily and I kept up the work, I was very young and stupid...
I wouldnt want to do it for a friend for money--and I am not doing it for my brothers...