I can't say with 100% certainty it was the fuel pump making noise. I was in a bit of a panic at the moment, and we all know what the mind can do. Is there a way to check fuel pressure on this engine? Would that much noise be made by a lean/detonation condition? It sounded pretty bad.

Just to start looking into it, I took off the inspection cover on the timing belt to check for slack. Here are a few photos of that. After of course the truck ate my 10mm socket and I spent 10 minutes looking. Still can't find that darn thing...







Doesn't seem to be an excessive amount of play. Doesn't answer many questions at this point since I'm new to this engine, but maybe you guys will see something.