[rhaigh08]

I am thinking about braving an engine rebuild very soon on my 99 3.5L. I just decided I want to tear something apart and put it all back together very spur of the moment. But it will happen after alot of research and recommendations by anyone willing to help. I know I will need alot of tools,space, and patience and I am wondering what I will all need. All the parts I will need, and a list of all the parts I might as well replace while I'm in there. I bought the haynes or hayes book based on a complete tear down and rebuild. Does anybody know if that is a good route to go? My big reason for this choice is because the valve cover gaskets went out and are dumping oil into plug housings in cyl. #'s 4,6 and,5. It is still running but rough. I discovered this while changing the spark plugs and stuck my finger in a puddle of oil. The plugs I just replaced had already been replaced at the start of winter. So it is not misfiring now but I'm willing to wait another week or so and bet it will start again. Also it has a vacuum leak somewhere. BUT I love these cars too much to send it to a graveyard. Which is why I have 2. The 99 has just under 150k miles and has beat to hell and back No joke. It has burned oil for 8 yrs it started burning at 30k miles. Overall it has been an excellent car that in its youth was very well maintained but has now the engine has been neglected. I want to give the car a 5th wheel and go ahead and rebuild it. The body and underbody are in excellent shape with the exception of one spot of rust patched with bondo and primed and it needs rear struts, mounts, springs, and a chip in the windshield fixed. I'm not doing this just cause I love this car but I want to learn more about the engine and how to rebuild them in general. So just to learn and advance my knowledge on cars. Any recommendations or instructions are appreciated.