Replacing Head Gasket, T-stat etc

Hi folks, new here, thanks ahead of time.
Just bought a '95 Tracer ('Scort WannaBe) at auction, $500 - odo says 190k(!!). Runs(Ran!) very well.
Low and behold, it has a blown head gasket - !@#$ PO did a good job of hiding it!
Anyow, I have pulled the head, getting valve job. I am new to Fords and this motor (1.9), was wondering what sorts of things I should look for while I'm in it this far - what about the bottom end? Do these things eat bearings or anything? Any other general Escort/Tracer issues I should know about? Are blown head gaskets normal?
In this case, the water pumpo was leaking pretty bad, guesst hat's how they killed the HG.
Any info for a newby appreciated - i got this thing for the gas mileage while I slowly pull/rebuild the motor on my old 4Runner.

Most issues I've noticed here on AF have been in relation to the top end. 'Cept for one, recently, somethin happened to the car and the crank had 1/4" travel. Make sure everything in the throttle body works ok (IAC, Throttle Position sensor) and all throughout your intake. I imagine since you've taken off the head, you're already planning to change the timing belt, good. Watch for vacuum leaks. No real MAJOR problems exist that I've seen. So, keep us posted how it's comin along.

Thanks, much 'preciated.
To be honest I'm tryin' to do this fast, as I currently have no car and am bumming my wife's (AKA losing points by the day)... so wasn't planning to fully pull intake, etc.
However, get this - I did pull off the throttle body, it was oily/gummy as expected, cleaned up nice - but when I looked into the intake - the thumb-sized pipe/hole going to the EGR sesnor (taht is that 1st thing before the line for Cyl 4, right? w/ the big round guy on it?) was COMPLETELY blocked w/ huge carbon chunks... when dug out w/ a small screwdriver, came out like small moon rocks. Ergh.

Sorry, what do you mean by IAC?
The timing belt actually looks pretty new, may leave it. This $500 car is already getting pricy.

Yeah, taht was your EGR. Your IAC is the Idle Air Control valve. If it's not working right, your idle will get really rough. In some cases it has extended into the driving. It looks like a little black motor on top of the throttle body, comes off with two bolts. I want to say they're about 20-25 bucks to replace, but no need to if it idles fine. Hold off on it till you get it together and running.

How much is your valve job costing you?

How much is your valve job costing you?

Haven't picked it up yet, but it's looking to be in the 150-180 range, after they pressure-tested and checked everything out first, parts etc. 3 valves were sticking really bad. Head itself is in good shape.
Really stinks, but at least now I know it'll be good for awhile.

I pulled off the IAC (which has a big sticker saying, don't clean me, or else! Special coating will self destruct!), inside looked dirty but not gummy to too funky. The idle on it was fine - it purred quite nicely when purchased... buddy and I checked over everything very closely... the bastard had drained collant from radiator, but left it in bottle, and changed the oil, so no way to know about HG until driving for a little while.
Freakin' auction cars!

haha....yours had a sticker, mine was just black. My idle was all funky, so I doused the inside with WD-40, shook it up pretty good, problem solved. Might not necessarily work for you. Sounds like it's actually in pretty decent shape.

ya, I had already doused the throttle body in carb cleaner when I saw that. Oops. 10 yo car, I was afraid that the gunk was holding it together.

Hey, I've pulled the oil pan, just to check thsi sucker out - actually very clean, not too much caramelization in there, no bits o' crap etc.
Question - this is my 1st oil-pan pull, and by far most work I've ever done on a motor... I'm wondrin' if I shoudl replace the main bearings, or just leave 'em and go on. I say this b/c I've never pulled bearings or anything... is it literally just unscrew em, screw new ones in, anybody w/ a wrench could do it? Or is it more that a newbie like me has some chance of mis-mounting them or something, which of course leads to big-time trouble later?

FWIW, running it sounds fine, no ticks or anything, so no real suspision anyway.

I know what the bottom end looks like, and how it works, but NEVER done any work there. Sorry I can't help you there, I'm just as new to that as you.