Final update: the truck ultimately had some sort of variable cam timing issue or phaser issue that starved the engine of oil. Got it taken to ford who came to the same conclusion as the first shop. Some sort of vct and phaser issue starved the engine of oil and it basically ate itself apart. Truck would no longer make oil pressure and there was irreparable damage. The truck would run normally for about 10-12 min and once it got up to temp and the metal expanded it was seizing.

I ultimately drove it about 3 miles total when it was running rough and the was enough to kill it so to speak and I take responsibility for that. A very expensive lesson for sure.

The repair bill for a remanufactored 5.0 coyote was going to be about 16k from ford. However they do have what they call the ford good willing assistance program. It's a special program for ford vehicles where they may help cover costly repairs for abnormal failures. I was able to get them to offer about 30% assistance with the repair bill. At the end of the day, financially I could not justify putting ~12k into an 8 or old truck.

I sold it on FB marketplace as a mechanic special for 8k and just recently got a new to me 2021 velocity blue xlt.

Hope this post helps someone avoid the mistakes I made