If you have a repair manual for it, it's not that hard to do yourself. With two guys, a weekend project. The main obstacles are having an engine hoist (or floor crane, like $150 at Northern or Harbor Freight), lots of safety stands, and patience to read then apply. All the little wires and connectors these days are of a length that they can only go basically one place, and are made in such a way that they can only connect to one spot at the end of that length. Most all are simple snap or push connectors.
The bottom line is, that to get at a trans in a tranverse mounted engine, you pretty much need to pull the engine and trans together. And what cost's so much is the labor. You might find someone locally who will do it in their garage for cheap, but I can almost guarantee that any shop that does this for a living, will charge at least $1400. Good luck.
Dave
__________________  '93 Ranger 4X4, '93 Crown Vic, '95 Contour. | 
