New project and guidance on possible rebuild or headgasket.

Hi all!

I recently purchased a 1996 single cab 2RZ-FE Tacoma with 298k miles from the original owner and I'm hoping for some guidance from those more familiar with the platform before I get in over my head. Ultimately this truck is intended to be used for the utility around our property and being able to pick up supplies from the hardware store that wouldn't fit in our Model 3. I'd say today I'm looking for the most cost effective route of repair to have it reliable enough to drive ~25 miles round trip to the hardware store and I am open to pulling the engine for a rebuild (although I've never done that). I'd prefer to spend a little bit more time or money up front so that I'm not having to worry about things down the line.

The truck was sold with a known over heating issue and I'd say I picked it up for a steal ($1k). The previous owner said "it started to overhead and the gauge went close to the red on my way home one night. I went directly to my mechanic and he put coolant in it and I drove it to my brothers with no problem. We weren't sure at that point if it needed a new thermostat or was heading towards a head gasket. I had my moms truck so I drug my feet on figuring it out and would start it and let it run with no problem. Then decided to drive it around the neighborhood and it started getting hot again so went back and parked it. It's never actually overheated, just came close and because of the white smoke the last time we started it, is why we don't want to run it again." In Feb 2021, the previous owner replaced all 4 shocks, door locks, and lower ball joint(1?). She said shortly after the overheating started and she couldn't justify putting more money into the truck, so I'm under the impression it sat for well over a year before my purchase.

I ended up trying to drive the truck home and made it about 5 miles before I thought it was starting to overheat. I called a tow to be safe. I have since run the truck around the property with a Bluetooth OBD reader and coolant temp reaches ~185 and stays there. Run time is generally not longer than ~15 minutes each time. I'm convinced there's a coolant leak as I have added about 1 gallon of coolant since purchasing the truck a month ago. It smokes at varying levels, sometimes looks like someone who put seafoam in their gas tank and other times barely noticeable. Sometimes there's liquid dripping and spewing from the tailpipe. There's also a very liquidy/bubbly sound from what I believe is the heater core. Also worth noting I haven't put gas in the truck, so old gas isn't doing me any favors.

TIA!