Very likely needs rocker arms at that mileage. Not too hard or expensive to do but if ignored will end up dropping a valve, ruining a cam and sucking pieces of the rocker arm and needle bearings into the intake. They all have that problem sooner or later. Starts with the ticking and eventually develops into a dead miss on a cylinder but at that point it’s too late

They also like to blow spark plugs threads and all out of the heads or just break off when you try to remove them. In either case you’d need a triton 2 valve spark plug thread repair kit or take it in but that’s not too big a deal. Letting rocker arms go will leave you upside down in it quick style though

It’ll be fine. You are gonna need a jack and a couple jack stands. Get the front tires off the ground with the stands under the pinch weld. Loosen the two big subframe bolts (19mm iirc) a few turns on the driver side and with the jack supporting the passenger side of the subrame you can remove the two on the passenger side. Then you’ll be able to lower the passenger side with the jack and make some room for the pan to clear. Other than that it’s pretty straightforward. Put a dab of rtv on any joints around the gasket surface. You can get a pan, gasket, rtv, oil, and filter from rockauto for around $100 it’s well worth doing even if you gotta get tools. Good luck!

Do you already have the intake off? If you do you’re almost there. Just need to pull the valve covers and replace the spark plug tube seals. Valve cover gasket sets come with the tube seals. If there any joints around the gasket surface like the timing cover then put a dab of silicone on it when you go back together. That and some dielectric grease for the coils and you’re home free

How did you check spark? Crank no start on these is usually the ignition coil. Often enough I kept one in my box so I could try it before I would even bother pushing it in. It’s inside the distributor cap

Only time I’ve ever seen a problem from jump starting was because the leads got hooked up backwards

That’s a good way to end up in small claims court. Instead of abandoning the vehicle just talk to them. Chances are you’ll be able sign over the title and call it good then they’ll sell it to recoup what they can on the bill. Small claims court and mechanic liens are a lot of trouble they won’t wanna go down that road either. It’s not at all uncommon it happens all the time

You’ve still got a fighting chance if you stop now and get a line wrench on there instead of whatever you’re using. Also called flare nut wrenches