What works for me on diagnosing something like rod knock is to disconnect the coil/plug wire on one cylinder at a time. Start it and see if the noise changes. Most times it is pretty much a night and day difference when you disconnect the one with the problem.

I changed rod bearings in my 1995 (the result of my stupidity resulting in a bent rod). It was a pain and took probably 8 hours. Probably two of them dorking with those pan bolts above the kick out in the pan. I also wasted a good bit of time thinking through what had to be done to lower the pan (I did not have a shop manual).

I appreciate the closing of the loop on the thread and look forward to hearing what the problem actually is.

Mark