Yall Seen This Yet?
Could you do it all yourself for less money? I'm not sure you could. The only advantage I see is that rather than biting off the whole chunk at once, you could pay as you go.
i think maybe if you were judicious in spending and not in a hurry so you could score some deals that it's possible you could bring it in under this. but to your point, a one and done and pay it off over a year, year and a half is pretty attractive-- i'd actually flop a big chunk on a card for points/cash back and then figure on sucking it up and paying 3~5 a month on it to get square.
anyway, my back of the bar room napkin math goes like this:
trans: 300 (junkyard)
converter: 600 (for something decent)
rebuild kit: 300 (general decent kit
shift kit: 150 (trans go 2 from summit)
a-dapt-or plate: 850 (let's keep it little birdie prices even though we know there's the wilcap piece)
trans cross member: 400 (us car tool)
standalone controller: 1300 (it appears they use the HGM unit)
add in some incidentals: 500
throw some tax on that: 440
standard line item "oh **** i forgot about that": 160
rounds out nicely to a smooth 5K
now add 10% budget overage, and you're at 5500
granted there are places to save some money, places to spend more and there's always a stroke of luck-- finding a rebuild trans on the cheap or somebody unloading lightly used torque converter, but the big chonky numbers-- adapter and standalone controller are still a big part of the bill.
so even if you went with a cheaper controller, built your own x-member, scored some hardware on the cheap and did a few midnight motors cash deals, you might be able to bring this in around 4K; and to me, that sounds like a long and arduous journey for not a massive savings.
