95 Neon valve cover

I bought a 95 Neon 2 Door, SOHO, for a good deal, certified and
e-tested. Now I have noticed that there is a little bit of oil
collecting on the outer edge of the Valve cover. (having owned two GM
4 cylinder cars, I suspect the valve cover is leaking)
It does not look like a difficult job to change the gasket for this.
What I am wondering, if/when I do the gasket, will this give me enough
access to the valve springs and so on to do a spring and retainer
swap?
The car has just over 135k KM on it and I am looking at some things I
can do to the car to bring some life back to it. It is faster then my
2001 Neon off the Line due to the Manual transmission in the 95, but I
do believe that my 2001 Neon has a faster engine.
I am also looking for some suggestions as to what can be done to this
car that the average do it yourselfer can do at home. I have access to
most of the tools needed except for whelding.

Mike
mlawrenc(at)rcc.on.ca