1994 Lincoln Town Car ticking and knocking

Hello I have a 94 lincoln towncar with the 4.6L it has 265000 miles my grandfather gave it to me when I got it it had a bad water leak I fixed that and the windows among other small things now when I start it it runs very rough when its cold if you let off the gas it dies untill it gets warm it also has a very bad tick to it its very loud and when it goes to die befor it gets warm u can hear a knock to it which either goes away after warming up or is hid by the ticking I want to fix the car on my own becouse he got it as a project car any ideas on what all this could be or what I can do to rule out some things any help would be amazing thank you