Head Gasket Replacement

My friend has an older Tempo and the head gasket is blown. He got quoted like $1300 to replace it from a local shop. So my question is this: how hard is it to replace a head gasket? Can you leave the engine in the car? I have wrenched on engines before, and helped my friend put his head back on, but he had his engine out to rebuild the bottom end. I'm not worried about actually doing the head gasket if we can leave the engine in (I dont have a cherry picker or engine stand). Sorry about the probably over played question, but my search didnt help me at all. Any help is appreciated! Thanks

There is no reason to pull the motor for a head gasket job. If your mechanicaly inclined, and have some basic expierience, then it should be a straight forward process. If the tempo is a 4 banger, it should cost no more then $750 for a head gasket job using OEM parts (OEM Head gasket part # F132 6049 B - $495.83), assuming $65/hr labour (Roughly 5.5hr's of work). $1300 sounds steep, so if you can't do the job yourself, go to another shop.

BTW, a Ford Tempo is not a DSM, maybe the Ford forum would be more helpfull.