Well -
Pulled the trigger today and purchased all of the parts needed to do a full timing job, rocker / roller / lash adjuster job, sparkplug swap and waterpump job.
This included some additional stuff like needing new hood shocks, some anti-seize and di-electric grease and threw in a few helpful tools as well.
Going to rent the pully puller and fan clutch removal tool from a local parts shop and I have plenty of high quality oil sitting around.

The parts ended up coming from 4 different resources that I narrowed down after a pretty exhaustive search. Got really put off by the constant comments of fake OEM parts on Amazon so - with a couple of exceptions like Melling and Jegs Amazon pages, I found all the other parts through RockAuto and a online Ford parts store (only the VVT solenoids).
Not sure if this helps anyone else but I found a unlikely resource for a pretty comprehensive timing kit. Dales The Diesel Source listed a complete, Ford OEM kit for 895.00 which, after a lot of searching around, proved to be decent in price and convenient in its completeness. Here is a link for anyone planningn to go down the OEM route - as I have. Full OEM timing kit
All in - for everything to do the variety of jobs I have laid out, I am a little of 2K in parts alone with about 90% of the parts being Motocraft branded parts. I am sure I could have done it for less than half that cost with a variety of aftermarket Chinese parts but I am going for 100K on this job without any major issues. Purchased the truck a month or so ago with 148K on the clock and although it is not a pretty truck - it is a solid one.

Currently getting an area cleared out so that I do not impact the primary driveway while I do this work.
Going to try and figure out a way to more easily get to the rear of the engine bay. My back is not what it used to be.
Outside of that, just playing the waiting game now as all of the new parts trickle in.

 

I stand on 2 five gallon buckets full of something, and a plank on top of both, going across the front of the truck
I have rubber on the plank both sides
The buckets I use are old sheetrock mud buckets, heavy as hell and the buckets will not move with me working on the motor, same with the rubber wrapped plank
Good luck
I use the Ford kits too, best option, same with the Melling pump, best option

 

Yea at 69 my back is trashed!! I remove the front 2 tires and lower truck to ground.

 

I just hope the additional cost proves out to be the best solution.
Obviously, I am not sure yet where the reach struggles will be. I may be able to get away with a step but won't know 100% until I tackle the job.
Hopefully, its a lot about nothing once I get into it.

 

I have considered that as an option and also looked at removing the AC condenser. Already pulling the radiator as I want to have it professionally cleaned.
I believe that there are some electrical connectors to remove which need to be accessed from underneath so I want to be sure I don't cause more work for silly stuff like that.

 

I can generally buy a new radiator cheaper than you can get one cleaned
Call 1 800 Radiator
See if there is one in your area
Of course, I have a wholesale account but never pay much more than 125 for any radiator

 

Double post due to exceeding text limit.

I am nearly 61 and I still retain a lot of patience when working on longer term projects but i do have to say that the engine layout design on these trucks is - well just nuts.
Took the time beforehand to review many videos and posts on the big timing job and even after all that, I discovered a few things that had me problem solving in situ.
My rebuild service includes - full timing job, water pump, oil pump, oil pan gasket and clean, all rocker/rollers and hydraulic lifters and some additional smaller, easy service items.
My truck has larger tires but isn't lifted so it's higher than the stock version but not ladder necessary to get in. I bought it used a couple of months ago at 148k with no history but i felt confident because of some of the aftermarket upgrades that had been done, signifying that there was a "possibility" that the PO or owners at least cared about it enough to keep up on basic service. I think it may have had a couple of PO's and the service got worse as the vehicle changed hands - not surprising. I will check at some point to see how much history there is on the truck.

There are tons of videos and posts on working with this engine so I won't provide any how-to here, but I do have some highlighted things that I hope will be of use to someone as they search the job for themselves. These are things that I have not seen being reviewed in any great detail and I do think this stuff might be helpful. Bear in mind that at this time, I am staring at the timing cover getting ready to pull it today to finally get into the basic mechanics of it all. I also have a 2003 Jaguar XK8 which is also a V8 motor in a compact space. I could have removed and replace the valve covers 6 times in the space it took to even get these covers off. I am writing these notes for someone similar to myself with a decent amount of mechanical experience and have even done a full timing belt job on a 32V Porsche 928S. Look that one up for the fear factor lol.

See next post for my review so far.

 

I still have a long way to go here. This should be number 1 of an anticipated 3 posts on this job. Getting in, doing the job, putting it back together.
- I have about 6-7 hours per day to put into this work and i am working outside in California. Nice weather until the sun disappears and then it chills fast, condenses on everything and of course, can't see anything. Not worth pushing through as I have a second vehicle and am ok with this being multi-day work. So, I have 8+ hours of actual work put into the truck to get to the timing cover. Remember I have never worked on a Ford before, let alone this engine.
- I am almost 61 years old, 6'1" taall and average build. This matters to the time spent as many of us don't "bounce" around like a mid 20 year old. Bones creak, legs hurt and unless you are exceptionally fit, you run out of gas a little sooner.
- My first tip on this job is reach and battery powered tools. I purchased a 3/8" battery powered ratchet and I should have used it more than I did. I am old school and simply forgot I had it most of the time but as I got further and further into the job, the ratchet came out more and more. This is all about reach access and expedition of bolt removal covered more in the next tip.
- Extensions, wobbles universal joints etc. Use these with the battery ratchet as often as humanly possible. Sure, crack the fasteners first if you have a concern but leverage reach and automation as much as possible. I have climbed up and down my steps hundreds of times already and the up and down, laying over the front and stretching yourself out is not a big deal for a basic bit of service but in this case, it really adds up. Given the time back, I would have used the battery ratchet with extensions so many more times than I actually did. It is a time saver and it is a back saver. I already own a small and large battery powered impact gun which I have used sparingly so far but the ratchet is king here.
- I started on the driver side valve cover and got through the process as one would anticipate knowing this job except for one thing - The hard line from the brake booster that runs over the valve cover and heads back to the firewall. In the vids I watched, there was little to no reference about this and on my truck at least, that cover is not coming off with the line sitting where it is. It only moved up about 1/2" on the post the support sits on and I needed to figure this out. Eventually, I reached my hand around the back of the head trying to get as much vertical movement as possible and then something let go and I had lots of play. I now know that I might have pulled the vacuum line off the back of the intake. Not confirmed yet but probable. Not even going to worry about it right now as I have much more on my plate. After that and all of the basic items reveiewed before, the DS cover came straight off.
- The PS cover was a much higher level of headache and required a lot of messing around. To be clear, my AC does not currently work but I wanted to see if the cover could come off without removing any lines. The short answer is yes but it is a horrible experience and I cannot see ever getting that cover back on with gaskets and bolts without doing damage to something. Once I finally got it out, I did find small metall particles inside the head from the cover dragging and grinding against various internal parts. It is defintely NOT the type of work I want to do so I will measure out my AC before sending the cover back in and if it is empty - or close enough, the AC line that runs over the top of the cover is defintely, 100% coming off where it joins to the accumulator. I had freed everything else, including the transmission fluid tube, pulling PCM and bracket, removed the nuts for the accumulator bracket, cleared all wiring 100%, pulled all of the bolts and gasket after they were loosened and pulled the VCT / gasket in advance of moving the cover. With a 100% clear visual path, it was still a bear and I blame it all on that AC line. Pull that sucker or pay the price in frustration and potentially throwing debris into the head while you drag and grind it out. Evacuate your AC and just chaulk it up as a cost to do the service. You'll thank me once you get to putting in that cover with nice fresh gaskets.
- Things that did not bite me so far.
1) I had zero issues pulling the coils, they popped right out with no effort. Once they were all out, I noticed 6 of them had no markings whatsoever and two of them were Bosch. I suspect the PO had replaced them all at one point with no name cheap coils and then in the course of operation, replaced 2 of them with genuine Bosch units to correct misfires indicated. Might have wanted to check the torque on the plugs to.
2) My plugs had been previously changed by the PO to Autolite HT15 plugs. Nickel one piece design with apparently low miles based on condition. I also discovered that none of these plugs were torqued to spec. By feel, they could not have been anymore than 10 foot lbs of torque on each one and a couple only a few pounds of torque. They broke free incredibly easy and I did not have to fight a single one. There was no antiseize on any of the plugs. A couple of them show signs of possible blowby. It will get the proper ford plugs on rebuild and the proper cleaning and torque.
3) PS Pump bolts. No problem at all here. Used a basic 10mm box wrench to get the two bolts out from the top and cleared the 3rd one from underneath. The bottom one requires a deep socket as on my engine, it is a post with a cable tie integrated.
4) Any other documented issues of parts being seized on, overly tight, impossible access, I seem to have gotten around. Fan clutch tool from O'reillys did its job, Harmonic balancer bolt zipped out easily with my impact and the O'reilly puller got the balancer off with ease. Bell housing on the waterpump was also a snap.
5) Not sure what the physics are here but my radiator would not drain with a hose attached to the outlet. A couple of strategically placed pans solved the problem but there seems to be some sort of vacuum block here with a hose that prevents the fluid from flowing. Cap was off.

- When a video or document tells you tool sizes, grab all of them or whatever you have. I have used a big variety of 10mm and 13mm tools as example. Some spaces have tight access and can require 1/4" ratchet, torque of a 3/8" or even 1/2" ratchet all with the same socket value. Some need 10mm ratcheting wrenches and some need non-ratcheting. It's all over the map so if you have enough variety, just grab them all. I have a work tray full of tools right now and although I haven't used them all yet, I have used most at one point or another.
- Online vids are edited down significantly. What someone makes look routine can be anything but. Unless you are desparate, park the vehicle with the intent that it will be done when its done. It takes a lot of the frustration out when you know you aren't working against a clock. Does for me anyway.

- One more tip for this post (sorry it seems long winded but its bright in my memory as I write this). FInd clear space to sort all of your parts. I have a couple of 8' banquet tables and I am staging the parts in order of removal. Whenever I can, I place the hardwar back on the part and if not, mark it with a paint pen. I have notoriously never been this complete with my parts as I have very good recall but there are so many fasteners being pulled all over the engine bay that I had to investigate 3 bolts that I stared at for quite a while. One was a PS pump bolt and 2 were the bolts that hold the radiator shroud on. No one need to accumulate a bucket of bolts that you have no idea where they go. It is simply the volume not the understanding. Oh, and take some photos of wiring routes as you are relocating a lot of wires and connectors on this project.

That's it for today.
Heading out in the warm sunshine soon to crack into the timing cover, oil pan and hopefully, by the end of the day, I will have at least, removed all of the components I plan to change and do a ton of cleaning in preparation for reassmbly tomorrow. Throwing in a couple of pics showing current progress. Won't answer until tonight but if anyone has any questions, go ahead and fire them out while its all fresh in my head.


Condition of plugs.

The brake booster hard line

The AC line elbow that stops movement. Also the heater core hose but manageable

Just before pulling all the rolly bits.

 

Wow, I've never thought of that, pure genius.

 

Great feeling to be on the upswing again.
Waiting on my last order of parts from RockAuto and I should be good to go.
The only nuance maintenance that I learned about this morning and performed was the filters inside of the VCT bodies. Hadn't seen that one mentioned anywhere. Not difficult at all to pull, clean and reinstall but did have to do a little additional research on how down the cap for the filter gets spun in before it crushes the filter. Since it doesn't tighten down and has no torque value, I decided to use PTFE pipe thread sealant on the bottom threads and then at the top, I put a dousing of blue Loctite, just for an added measure of insurance. Will let it cure overnight and then give it a little nudge tomorrow to make sure it feels snug.