thats a safety torx or a security torx. use a small screw driver to bust the pin out if you want to remove it. however you can just hose out the sensor in place
Does that motor have an idle air control valve (IAC)?
We had a mid 80's F150 with a 302 and I remember having to remove and clean that a few times. It would get sticky or something and not idle right and cleaning with carb spray seemed to help.
My take on what you described is you have an vacuum leak which could be by your brake Booster or it's hose to intake.... Many Fords of this year had computer problems which had people throwing unneeded parts at them ...when a couple or even one bad capacitor replacement solved all their problems....these caps leak on the board..
Also problem with them was coolant temp sensor. ..dash would show temp being right but computer didn't see the same keeping vehicle in open loop...live data shows this.
Small update. I only drive the thing a few miles a week, but for about four starts it did not want to start, which in the year ive had it has never been an issue. That went away but still has the dying thing and I've noted that when at idle and ctankbreally hard on the wheel like backing into a parking space the rims drop to 400 or so and often dies.
