Not sure what this would be. I unbolted the throttle body from the plenum and the rubber gasket was still good at 180k miles. It did half stick to both pieces,,, so I gently peeled it off one. A little spray adhesive will hold it in place for bolt-up. Also... I DID have an o-ring kit lying around,,, so I replaced all of the 0-rings where various tubes clicked on over the nipples they attached to. Most of those plastic tubes are "squeeze to release". I couldn't get one tube off the TB,,, so I just laid the TB back on top of the intake. Gotta pull the TB to get the drivers VC off anyway. Most of what I pulled ended up just laying on the intake.
Pulling the dipstick tube completely isn't necessary unless the o-ring there is leaking. I just pulled mine out a couple inches and truned it 90 degrees out of the way. You WILL need a couple special tools. One is a plactic fuel line disconnector for the fuel line going to the drivers side fuel rail.. You basically slip it on the back side of the barb coming off the fuel rail... and pull it towards you while slightly pushing in on the fuel line.
The driver rear is the worst bolt to get to, (buried under the brake booster). A 10mm short swivel socket is the best way to go... with various lengths of extentions,,, and a universal swivel also, (you'll have various lengths of extensions on both sides of the universal). I used that whole setup on the rear bolts on both sides... since you will be working under the cowl.
You'll probably want a can or two of brake parts cleaner... compressed air... and some of the special Ford quick dry/set RTV permatex for the 4 spots where the VC's mate to the front timing cover. I used copper Permatex,,, but let it dry overnight... but you need a heated space for either sealer to dry properly.
Also... you might want a 1/2" internal copper pipe brush, (any hardware store). Reason is... if there is any dirt or corrosion in the plug wells,,, you don't want to pull the plugs and have that debris fall into the cylinder. I pulled all the coils,,, blew out the plug wells... then ran the pipe brush down along side the plug as far down as I could,,, and rotated "walked" it around each plug... then blew out the plug wells again. Any plug well that had oil in it,,, I took a rag and held it over the top,,, and blew the plug well out. I then filled the plug well with Brake cleaner,,, and blew it out again. Fill... repeat,,, until you get a dry plug well.
Most of the rest of it is straight forward. The drivers side is overall slightly more space restricted,,, but not too bad. Youll need to completely pull the air box,,,, and relocted the powere steering reservoir out of the way, (where the air box was). The most tedious thing for me was pulling all 24 seals per cover,,, and re-installing them Each bolt hole has a barrel sleeve to prevent over compressing the valve cover... and it takes a small scredriver to slip them off and on.
Lastly... as you have probably noticed,,, the o-ring at the oil fill is seeping. I replaced that with the same size new o-ring,,, and it's seeping again. At this point I would recommend that anyone doing this job... put some black RTV in with the o-ring,,, to seal the filler neck tube to the VC. To get the tube off,,, flip the VC over... and you will see 2 tabs that lock the filler neck in place. You puch one tab in and slightly rotate the filler neck until the other tab hits a "stop" in the VC. The push in that 2nd tab and rotate it the rest of the way,,, and the filler neck should pull right out.
Dutch, You seem like you know what you are doing... so as long as you have the tools, (and the heated garage,,, and maybe a backup ride)... pick a weekend and go for it. Take your time,,, be patient... and study everything as you go. Take notes if you have to. Besides... then you'll get to see the internal workings up close and personal. Joe gave you the shop manual... which can be a big help.
Don't think I missed anything...
Now that I think about it... this is for the V8... and I don't recall which engine you have.
Ohhh.. a super fine scotch brite pad, (or same steel wool) could be gently used to clean up the mating surfaces on the head if necessary. If surfaces feel smooth,,, then don't worry about it.
