As an ex- auto tech myself, I can tell you, if you can fix cars, you can fix bikes. Without a doubt, they're different, but a mechanical system is a mechanical system. "Bicycling Maintenance and Repair", by Jim Langley is a must-have for doing your own bike work. With that book and a few special tools, you can do about anything on a bike.

As far as your touring bike, I'm with most of the others, find a good used road bike that fits the bill. Don't overlook eBay either. The "deals" are few and far between, these days, but they're still there. Also, don't be afraid of older bikes with 27" wheels and 5 or 7 speed freewheels on them. Not having a 9 or 10 speed cassette on the back just means you have fewer gear choices in between, so long as you have a decent high and low end. There are a couple of real good choices out there on 27" touring tires, and almost every bike shop has at least one cheap 27" tire in stock, if you get in a bind on the road. Make sure you go through all the bearings on whatever bike you choose.

The pic below is of my 1982 miyata 610 after I finished it up a few years ago. I found it on eBay for $200. I swapped out the brake levers for a set of cane creek's, and replaced the shifters with a set of vintage suntour bar-cons that I also found on eBay. I also put a Brooks saddle on it and replaced the bar tape and derailleur and brake cables and housings. Other than that, and some new tires, everything else is original. It's a real sweet ride and is a favorite of mine. The old suntour derailleurs are just about indestructible and the 27" wheels, though uncool, are just as round as the 700c wheels are on my other titanium bike. It only has a 5 speed freewheel on the back, but the half step plus granny crank gears make up for that.

One issue you might have to deal with, for a guy your size, is that you may have some flex issues with the old steel frames in the larger sizes. You can minimize this by putting a good solid rear rack on the bike such as the ones that Tubus makes...kind of expensive, but worth it IMO. Good luck in your search.

Oops, just noticed this was an old post brought back from mothballs...so what happened...did you get a bike yet??