Rebuilding a 700-R4

[RobertF]

I have a van I picked up for $200 and of course 6ft after I pay for it the tranny dies. Pull the dipstick out and yikes you could smell it a mile away (didn't smell at all 10min prior) so I towed it home (Yay for the X towed it 20 miles with a tow bar). Once home I dumped the fluid out and replaced the tranny filter/gasket. Then I pumped in new fluid. Took the thing for a spin and got about a mile before it dumped. I can be doing 2k RPM and the driveshaft won't even budge. From the second the driveshaft stops spinning the smell is horrible. I see these rebuild kits on jcwhitney (http://www.jcwhitney.com/item.jhtml?ITEMID=30516&BQ=jcw2 and this one http://www.jcwhitney.com/productnoitem.jhtml?CATID=103268&BQ=jcw2 #85ZX5443N a Chevy 700-R4 for an '84). Are these kits the do it yourself type project? I can get the tranny off with no problems I have the space under this thing to pull it off and bring it into the garage. Should I attempt this at all? I do most of my own work on my X and feel pretty confident in my mechanics skills. $174 plus my own time during nites (I'm not in a rush to get it running... it's already been a month) is much better than paying $500-$1000 at a shop. Either that or anyone have a spare 700-R4 sitting around that works?