I feel the same way you do Dave. The biggest thing holding me back from doing certain work on cars myself is the fear of screwing things up, breaking good parts, just finding the time to do it myself, etc. But I REALLY enjoy the reward of successfully fixing something myself, so I try to use that as my motivation.
Books, magazines and message boards/internet are good, but the best thing for me has been whenever I hear a friend is going to work on his car - go watch/help. That has given me the confidence I need to do some work on my cars.
One day I will rebuild an engine!... maybe
