It's a 1999 F150 with a 5.4

Is there a trick to taking off the left valve cover without messing with the EGR tube that goes down to the exhaust manifold? The fittings look very rusty & crusty and I really don't want touch them if I don't have to.

The right side looks straight forward but something is holding the injector/coil harness in the back by the firewall. I can't see to good back there but something is keeping the harness from being pushed out of the way. Whats there?

 

Well I have been fighting with the right cover for an hour now but I cant get it out. Looks like the harnesses are preventing them from clearing the cam and stuff. anybody have a tip to gain clearance in the back on the right side?

 

i sprayed the EGR tube fitting with penetrant a couple times while working on other parts. I used a 10 inch pipe wrench to grab the fitting tight instead of an open end wrench. i held it tight and smacked it several times with a 2 pound hammer to get the advantage of shock load. It gave up pretty easy after that. Wire brush and antisieze prior to reassembly.

 

Was that on the bottom one or the top one? The top one by the EGR doesn't look that bad but the bottom one had salt splasher on it from 10 NJ winters.