I didn't even bother with the leak down test lol. She swears she didn't drive the car much when it would begin to overheat, but I'm hoping like hell she didn't warp the head... If it's somehow miraculously just a gasket, then this should be good to go, but the fact that it's all 4 cylinders gives me doubts...

I began tearing into it yesterday. Only had 3ish hours or so, but I nerd to remove the coil pack and EGR mounts (easy), remove the bolts holding the intake to the head (fuel rail is already gone), and jack the car up on the front passenger side after removing the wheel to access the timing belt area and take everything off of that. That seems like the biggest pain in the ass left to do. Exhaust manifold is unbolted, I just need to get it off the studs.

This can't be over soon enough, but like I said, I'm seeing it through to the end! I feel like we're all in this together at this point haha