I tried to do the "search" text just now and this is what I did:
I changed the sideboxes/search.php to this:
require($template->get_template_dir('tpl_search.php',DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'sideboxes'). '/tpl_search.php');
$title = zen_image($template->get_template_dir(BOX_HEADING_SEARCH, DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'images'). '/' . BOX_HEADING_SEARCH, HEADER_ALT_TEXT);
$title_link = false;
require($template->get_template_dir($column_box_default, DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'common') . '/' . $column_box_default);
and I changed my templates/english.php to this:
// quick_find box text in sideboxes/quick_find.php
define('BOX_HEADING_SEARCH', 'SEARCH.PNG');
define('BOX_SEARCH_ADVANCED_SEARCH', 'Advanced Search');
to include my image that I have saved for the search header.
Now, my search heading is completely gone. Am I just making this too difficult?