Reporting it is totally doable for a rookie to drop the engine by themselves. My wife was there for moral support and taking pictures.

From reading the forms I elected to put the rear of the car on the highest jack stand setting. I then put jack stands under the front of the car at the lowest setting. There was no need to have a huge difference in height between the front and back. Just a few inches was enough.

I left the engine on the 1/2 ton setting on the hoist arm. Turns out it worked best for the longest reach. The hoist was right up to the radiator at completion.

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Just went slow, took about 20 mins to put it in.
I had the transmission "A" support brace already installed.

After I was done I put the car back on the chassis dolly but I am finding it really heavy to push around the garage. Next up will be some wheel dollies.

Overall it was a good day and a great milestone. Definitely was much easier than I expected. Now I have to educate myself on pinion angles.