New, new head arrived -- that was fast! Hope to check it out and to transfer over the parts tomorrow night or the next, and to get the old head on its way back due to the fine-print core charge.
Found a site that talked and showed pulling a 1.9L out of an Escort from above, with the manual transmission still in place. So I'll try it, probably this coming weekend, with both the shop heater and the quadraphonic sound system cranked way up.
Now that's my idea of a great time!