So, I checked a few things out tonight. Air filter looks clean. The oil looks clean, but way over filled. Its up at least to the twisted part of the dipstick. It does look like someone has been around the engine bay before. I found a hose clamp not really holding a hose to the valve cover, and thus the hose half off the barb. I'm guessing that someone replaced the grounding straps as this is what they look like. I didn't remove them, but I may just to clean them up and throw some grease on them to prevent any corrosion. However, I think the red stuff may be something similar?
Next up I went for the spark plugs. While doing this, I noticed the coil packs have exposed and rusty metal that is separating due to corrosion. I don't know if this will be an issue or not, but I'll probably see if I can do something about it.
Moving on, all the plugs were tight in there, so I don't think the bucking was from them.
Here is plug #1 (driver's side). The gap looks very large. Unfortunately, I couldn't find my gap measuring tool, but it has to be well over spec. Also, the ground electrode looks rusty while the threads make the plug look like it was running a bit rich. Its a bit odd.
Here is the middle plug. Looks nearly identical.
The third plug is where I had some issues. I didn't end up removing it. I'm thinking it may be cross threaded into the head. It is really hard to unscrew it. I think I got it most of the way, but I was afraid to go any further. I sprayed some penetrating oil down there hoping that it might help a little, but I haven't tried since then to remove the plug as it was getting dark out. Any tips here would be very much appreciated. I really don't want to strip the head out and have to pull it to install a heli-coil on it...