dc engine on fermenter for ethanol
steam engine on pump for water
4x steam engine or gasoline engine on grinder for 3x ore processing and lub
steam engine on friction heater on furnace for free smelting
performance engine with 8:1 gearbox on an fractionation unit for jet fuel
then you get bored around till you get redstone through the extractor with a performance engine to get tungsten
then gasoline engine on extractor or go for reactorcraft
and read this for reactorcraft starting reactor:
http://lisimba.org/minecraft/howto_beginner_reactor/howto.html
oh and read the book(s)