not sure if i can answer everything and in order you posted but, here goes. you need valve cover gaskets, oil tube kits for both heads, chain, oe tensioner, tens. rail, 3 upper rails, 2 cam gears, oil and filter. consider replacing the fan belts, plugs, coolant and radiator hoses. maybe, the water pump. only if it's a suspect in a coolant loss problem. if you have broken rails, the you need the oil pan gasket and the rubber foot for the oil pump. the pan needs to come off to find all the pieces broken from the rails. had 1 car come in as a tow-in. just bought it, 300 miles on it, quit running. chain jumped, bent valves. rails were intact and the chain was fresh. BUT, it was just done before sold and the broken bits were still in the engine. 1 got wedged in the chain and caused the damage. the rubber foot gets hard and you should pull it off to make sure nothing is sitting in the oil pump pickup, waiting to lock up the oil pump.

pulling the front cover is easier with the heads off, obviously. i don't suggest it with the heads on and the mileage you post as it's a serious pita. if you get to 300k or so, the pull the cover and replace the 2 lower guides along with the oil pump chain and guide. i've had the cover off of 1 in the many years i've been doing this. the reason was because 1 of the water pump bolts had been stripped during replacement by someone a long time before i got the car. this 1 bolt is long enough to thread into the block. the heads had to come off because of a required valve job for loose valve guides. more stripped bolts-long story.

nothing special required in tools, except for the rail pin puller. socket to turn the motor, spark plug socket, etc. the rail pins can be pulled with a 6mm bolt and a socket big enough for the pin to fit into as it comes out of the cover. some people pull the rockers to relieve compression, i pull the plugs. had a couple of cars where the lifters acted up when reloaded with the rocker and had to be adjusted or replaced. so, i stopped pulling the rockers.

hth, good luck, chuck.