No Subi Burglar

Hey, I sought some opinions locally on Craigslists about a 2.5L Sport Wagon I bought for the past couple of days. I want to buy a WRX this summer but I figured since this one NA wagon popped up for a fair price I should go for it. Nicely modded, with a “service” done. Going to post this on a few forums for exposure. Im local to Wisconsin and will be calling a couple of independent shops. in short the car over heats. Please read details. In summary the car left a shop having a major service job done at 130k (December). The car drove 80 miles to destination, but a misfire started. I think the owner paid about 3,000 for timing, and head gasket with a couple other things. He had the car for 3 years previous. Then the car sat for Im guessing some weeks. He posts it a week ago, I want to buy it expecting some fine tuning to be done. The meet up wasnt far from where he drove it. Shows me its getting hot, he wasnt aware of this. Tells me the truth about the sketchy mechanic. The car cools, it wasnt completely in red. We test drive but have to stop bc steam. We pop the radiator fill and it appears to be boiling, splunks a little out. Not good. I negotiate quite a bit off expecting to replace engine. The mechanic did show him the parts going on, and it was through a mutual friend. They ghosted him when he contacted about the issue. I have slightly more info but thats effectively it. The following are some ideas I got. Please try to help in case I could be missing something. Quick fixes- Cooling system flush, check thermostat Other cooling related things Oil Change to see if waters mixed in Check Gaskets, its preventive work in case I keep engine The car might have warped head, or bad spark plugs/ coils. If head gasket is leaking, Id swap motor but at 130k miles. Wasn’t expecting that, but any advice is nice.