Jim, it only LOOKS like you're almost there. Believe me, there's a lot of work left between having heads off and having the motor out. Cam swaps are plenty easy to do with the block in the truck. And lining up O-ringed gaskets is no more difficult than aligning non-o-rings. The alignment is done by the dowel rings at each outer end of the head.
Starting on Friday and being done on Sunday is VERY doable, but it's pretty tough your first time. I can pull my truck down to the block in a little over two hours now. Putting it back together is about a 7 hour process. That's with about 10 head swaps on Lightnings under my belt.
You'll need a good torque wrench and a hardened 9/16" socket. Everything else is basic hands tools, mostly a ratchet with 1/2" and 9/16" sockets and a couple different lengths of extensions.
Leave the fuel rails and injectors bolted to the lower intake, but beware that the rails will stay full of fuel.
No matter what you do, there is coolant in the block and the heads at the back of the motor. When you remove those rear bolts, you're going to have one heck of a mess. I'd recommend putting some plastic bugs over the exhaust pipes after the headers are off and holding them in place with rubber bands. This prevents all the coolant, plus all the nuts and bolts, from ending up in the exhaust pipes.
Get the coolant out of the cylinder bores as quickly as possible. Clean and wipe the bores very well and then coat the bores with some motor oil. If you don't, they'll get a patina of rust on them within minutes. This won't really hurt anything if you don't leave it for long, but if your engine is apart for a few days, it can get severe.
If your fan is still on the truck, take it and the shroud off. It's a lot easier to work on the truck when you can stand between the engine and the radiator on the steering rod. (I don't know how big you are, but I can do this fairly easily - with the water pump off it's even easier to stand on the ground and work)
If you're using aftermarket headers with separate flanges for each pipe, getting them onto the new heads can be PAINFUL. Start the bolt in the back first, then use a phillips head screwdriver in the front hole to align the hole and start the next bolt. Be sure to install the gasket first.
Check and double check that the end of the head gasket labeled "FRONT" is at the FRONT. Verify it to yourself. If you don't, you may find yourself pulling the head back off to be sure. Put it on backwards and your engine will get very hot very fast.
All of the electrical and vacuum connectors are actually pretty easy to figure out when you put the harnesses back on. They're either the only connector remotely nearby or they're keyed so that they can't be put on wrong.
Drive the oil pump with a drill for a while before doing your first adjustment on the valve train. This will pump the lifters up and ensure that you get a good adjustment the first time.
Don't install the sparkplugs until after you've done the valvetrain adjustments. I use a remote starter switch to sping the motor when I adjust the valves.
Hmmmm... most of it is really a unbolt and rebolt process. It's just time consuming, but not rocket science.
Hopefully I'll be pulling mine apart again soon. After alot of thinking and what you said, I think the problem is just what you said.
