What a lemon.. 1996 Ford F150
Sorry to hear of all of your problems with your '96. I had several Ford trucks before buying my current '95 Dodge Ram 2500 V10.
The last Ford truck I had was a '77 F250 Supercab with a 460. Gave it to my son to drive when I bought my Ram. It went well over 200K without the heads ever being off the engine before he finally junked it last year.
The only engine work it ever needed was several water pumps and a timing chain.
My current V10 Ram is now over 150K but still running strong...and thirsty.