You can get all the other parts from enginebuilder.com, they're good stuff.  Oh, and your factory temp gauge isn't stupid or broken.  If there's no coolant or water running past the sensor, what's there to read?  I had the same thing happen to me, blew out as I got on the freeway, only rose a tiny bit, then I drove 15 minutes to work and didn't know anything was wrong till I hit the long hill and it started pinging like mad.  Let it cool off and it just cranked over like there were no spark plugs in it.

You'll probably want to do a few oil changes fairly close together to clear out all the water, and you can run a little atf through the first time to help get the water out.  And for sure have the head checked for warpage, if it got that hot it's doubtfully straight.