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Thanks for confirming what I had considered doing. Often the helping hand is what is needed to instill confidence.

As an update, I was at the car yesterday with a more mechanically inclined buddy who is working on a Model A and a Studebaker Dicatator, and he asked me for a long handled screwdriver and had me start the car. He then proceeded to do a test I had long known about and long since forgotten (if you don't lose it you lose it), of putting the blade of the screwdriver to the water pump and the handle to the ear. The bearings in the pump are definitely chattering up a storm. That thing definitely has to go. Also, as luck would have it, not a drop leaked from the car during the 10 minutes it ran.

I took step one last night and ordered up a quart of Packard Green engine enamel from Bill Hirsch. Next will be ordering the pump, thermostat, and upper and lower hoses. One paycheck at a time.

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Yeah, I sure get that, I'm retired and have to watch my shekels too!
Couple of things... if you go to buy the hoses, I doubt you will get them off-the-shelf, ready to install, due to the age of the vehicle. On mine, I took them to the local NAPA store, and the guy matched them up 'ID & bend-wise' with my old ones. While not exact matches, they were such that they could be cut down and would work. Again, only talking from my '39 experience, but both my upper and lowers had internal springs to keep them from collapsing. The aforementioned replacements did not have springs and they are REQUIRED. If you can buy correct-size spring stock to insert in the new hoses, that's optimum. On mine, I couldn't, so I took the old springs out of my used hoses, cleaned them up with a wire brush and some steel wool, and inserted then in my new hoses. This is NOT a fun task and requires some patience! I made a little 'harness' out of a leather boot lace, seriously lubed up the tube of the new hoses with dish soap, and worked the springs into place. It took a while, but I got them exactly where they needed to be, leaving a cuff free of wire on each end to go on the hose bibs of the rad and pump. I used leather so as not to damage the tubes of the new hoses. Oh and I rinsed them really well with water before installing so I wasn't blowing bubbles out my rad!! LOL Also, John Ulrich Packard has come up with a stainless steel retaining sleeve for the thermostat, which, IMO, is far superior to the galvanized wire clip that is normally found, rusted to crap, inside the head spout. All of the above contribute to this being a fairly 'involved' task. In and of itself, switching out a water pump isn't that big a deal; it's all the little extra stuff that goes with it, that turns it into a bit of a chore. Chris.

My thought was I would get the radiator hose kit that Max Merritt has listed in their parts catalog. Hopefully all the appropriate springs and bends are already in the hose. If anyone has purchased their kit, hopefully they can say whether that is true or not.

I purchased the radiator hose kit for my 1953 and it had all the requisite bends, springs, etc., including some nice clamps as well.

Good Morning...The best thing to do is CALL Max Merritt and talk to them. They are good people and will send you what you need...and want. I re-did lots of things on Miss Prudence, I always spoke to Max, never went on line, always received what I ordered, including a few suggestions from Fred Brunner and crew. Calling is best...Ernie in Arizona

Parts ordered from Max Merritt. I ordered up a water pump, radiator cap, hose and clamp kit, and thermostat. Packard green enamel has arrived and is just waiting for the water pump to show up to paint it before installing.

I'm hoping to install the new and newly painted water pump this week. Assuming no issues arise removing the old one, when it comes to assembly I'm wondering what everyone else does about the gaskets. My father used shellac on almost all the gaskets he was putting on. My friend with a Model A says he uses exclusively RTV on his gaskets. Thoughts? I don't want to reinvent the wheel.

I would go with a thin layer of non hardening Permatex or RTV on anything around the water pump or thermostat housing. Reason being that unless the mating area was surfaced in some way and guaranteed absolutely smooth there could be some small corrosion pits. Something with a bit of body will have a better chance of filling and sealing any defects that might be prone to seepage under or around the gasket.

Boy oh boy, am I finding with every little bit of maintenance that I plan to or attempt to do on this Senior car, that it is waaay different than on the pretty easy and straightforward ‘37 Six. Rather than just tear things apart willy nilly and start wrenching on things I don’t have to, I’m going to ask some pretty obvious questions to protect my car from me. Please bear with me. My first question is in regard to the radiator drain. Is the circled item the radiator drain? There is all sorts of shielding around the bottom front of the car and hopefully I won’t have to take it off. Also, if this is the drain, it would appear that there is an Allen head set screw down the middle. Do I need to do anything there?

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According to the 35-41 parts manual, all radiators from the 120 thru 41 had a draincock but with four different part numbers, two being listed for before and after 16th series Supers only. The other differences are probably due to up until the 16th series draincock was on the back side of the radiator and 16-19th and later series it was on the front.

I am thinking the original draincock might have been damaged or if maybe the radiator went to a shop for repair it went missing. If so, someone must have replaced it with a plug.

All I can suggest is hopefully it is a brass plug and will come out without major trauma because if it was a steel plug, then much like the fuel tank drain plug it could be solidly rusted in place. Also suggest some penetrating fluid on the threads and even if it means removing the shielding, you try and grab onto the portion pressed into the bottom tank with vise grips or some such tool that will grip well to keep that portion from turning while trying to remove the plug. If the tank piece turns, it will most likely mean a trip to the radiator shop to have it replaced or sealed again.