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The escort is working again. Replacing the thermostat did the trick. (The back story from earlier in the week is here and here.)
I didn't, unfortunately, take any photos of the re-assembly process. Once I had gasket sealant on my hands, I didn't want to stop and take photos; besides, that would have mucked up the camera. I took the car on a test drive yesterday (Saturday), and it was back to its old behavior. Huzzah!
One interesting thing about this repair--the uppermost bolt on the thermostat housing is incredibly difficult to get to. It's in behind a couple of other things, with no direct way to get at it (there's something in the way of a standard socket extension). However, it turns out that at the Oshkosh air show a few years ago, I bought a 1/4-inch drive flex driver, which was perfect for this application. Here it is in action:
The flex drive is the black snaky thing, which is flexible but it transmits twisting force very well. The bolt that I'm turning is near the upper left of the photo, under the spark plug cables.
Here's a slightly closer view; the shiny thing is the socket on the end of the flex drive, and the bolt is immediately to the left of that.
