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Looks good! I believe the front engine support should also be painted to match the engine rather than black.

That could be, but that will be for another day. That’s in the low priority bucket for me.

I go t the water pump on with the new water distribution tube. Now, I just need to recruit the Three Hooligans again to get the front clip back on.

I'd tape heavy cardboard over the radiator to protect it. It's very close to the fan. Try to avoid twisting the front end assembly. Leaving the right inner fender panel off until the fenders are in place will make dealing with the lower radiator hose much easier.

Yep. I have cardboard ready. I actually won’t be putting either inner fender in just yet. I still have a couple rounds of running evoporust through the system and then flushing out again before calling it good in the coolant system. I’m also adding an in-line filter in the top radiator hose.

Looks like great progress Don. Now that you have full visibility to the front of the block, can you identify areas of opportunity for leaks that would be below the water pump? As mentioned, I am in search of a leak, but can not find it, as I think i need to do what you are doing. I can confirm it is not the water pump, as it is dry, but can not see other areas. Figured, since you have it taken apart, you may be able to direct me?

Let me know here or PM

my guess is that the leak may not be below the water pump. In my case, I had a small leak in the top tank of my radiator. Even though I couldn't see any signs of the leak at the actual source, coolant was running across the top tank and then dripping down where the fan would then blow it all to the passenger side.


If you are just seeing coolant on the ground under the car, it could be coming from your overflow tube since the overflow in these cars just dumps on the ground. There is no overflow container as modern cars have.

Well, everything is ready for the front clip to go back on. The in-line filter is installed and the temporary cardboard is in place to protect the radiator. The only glitch is that the schedules of the Three Hooligans isn't quite aligning. It's looking like it may be the middle of next week before the clip is re-installed.

Looking great though! I hope the evaporust helps you out - it did wonders for my block.

I cruised for 60 miles this weekend, speeds between idling at lights and 60 mph, no issues, car never got above 180 - 185F, and it was 85F out.

Okay…I got two of the Hooligans plus one other and we got the front clip set in place. Then, I fought for several hours to get much of any of the bolt holes to align. I really thought that would go much easier than it did. Anyway, it’s on and all the bolts are in place. I do still have some aligning to do but it is good enough for now. Hopefully, I won’t need to remove it again until it’s time for body and paint work. That’s still a year or more off. Then, it will be up to them to get it all back together and aligned. It will have the new fenders then as well.

I do still need to put the hood back on but that will wait until next week. For now, it’s time to pack for a trip to Dayton for a week long group bike ride….averaging 50 to 60 miles each day for five days.

I’ll put the hood on when I get back and start the evaporust process in the cooling system. Hopefully, I’ll do as well as Ken_P at that point.