1983 Ford Ranger engine questions

My name is Kyle, I was recently given a 1983 Ford Ranger and I have a few general questions so I can get an idea of what I am getting myself into.

A little back story. My SO's father passed away almost a year ago and her mother decided to donate/scrap the truck unless I wanted to take it. I talked with my SO about fixing it up so she would be able to drive her dads old truck one day and she really loved the idea.

The truck is not running at the moment and I am having it towed in the next few days to my parents house where I can have it parked and work on it for however long I need. As of right now I have limited information on the truck.

What i know is that it is a 1983 Ford Ranger, 2wd, 4 cylinder, no Power Steering, not sure about A/C, power breaks, and I am not positive what engine is in it. (mom's thinks it is a 2.3L)

Was running fine until April, 2013

On April, 2013, We had Riley Automotive rebuild the carburetor for $340.00. They said that the radiator had/has a leak. They did a Block test on it which showed the head gasket is blown. they quoted $997 to repair the radiator and head gasket.

They have not started the truck since.

As I said be for I am just looking to get an idea of what i might be getting myself into cost wise.

What other issues could I be looking at once i get the head off and replace the gasket?

If the auto shop ran a "block test" does that mean that the block and head are in working order/ no cracks? or could that still be a possibility?

I am assuming since the radiator has a leak that the engine may have over heated possibly causing the head gasket to fail. If so might that have caused other problems? any way of know if that was the problem?

Thanks for giving this short story a read. It ran a little longer than I wanted but I am a bit excited about the whole thing as is my younger brother. I would love to be able to work on this project with him. He loves tearing apart mini bikes n the like to fix up then sell or trade for a new project and this would keep us busy for a while as well as being a great learning experience.

TL : DR With your knowledge of blown head gaskets on a 2.3L 4c what other issues might i see once i start breaking the engine down to repair it.

Picture of the truck. I will post a few more once the truck is moved.

The Lima, OH built 2.3 is not know for blowing head gaskets. You may or may not have had overheating problems. Were it mine, I would remove the spark plugs, squirt some oil into each cylinder and let the oil penetrate a bit, maybe a day. While that is going on, I would borrow a pressure tester for cooling systems. You can pressurize the system to see if the radiator leaks or the coolant is leaking into the cylinder(s). If it holds pressure, it is likely not leaking... If it leaks from the radiator only, as far as you can tell, you can get a replacement radiator from a recycle yard (boneyard) or a new one. Since you don't know the condition of the rest of the truck, you might want to go used. The 2.3 doesn't need a lot of radiator.
After you have oiled the cylinders and waited, you can run a compression test. Disable the ignition(you can remove the wire from the distributor to the coil), and block the throttle wide open. Crank until the gauge reaches a maximum, usually 3-4 revolutions. Note the readings for each cylinder. If two adjacent cylinders have low compression, you have found a likely problem, a bad head gasket between the two. If all are low, it can be rings or valves.
If the numbers are all close to equal, replace the spark plugs and then I would remove the top of the float bowl and clean & empty the float bowl. You could also drain the old fuel unless you know it is good. Put good fuel into the bowl and tank, and re-connect the coil. See if it will run and how well.
You could buy a complete used 2.3 for ~$300 if you just want to get it running. The 2.3 is a long-lived engine, with some going over 300,000 miles and still running well. A used one can be found and installed that will likely cost less than repairing yours if you find valve problems.
tom