cooling system

A small leak was noticed under the engine while idling the other day. I looked as best I could, thought it was the water pump, from the origin of the leak, and the mileage on the engine. So I went to the local parts store I do most all of my bussiness at and purchased a Gates new pump, all gates hoses,a Stant 195° thermostat, and a clutch for the fan ( as mine no longer CLUTCHED!!), a couple gallons of Prestone, clamps, etc.

The fan and clutch are held on by a large 1 7/16" size RIGHT hand thread nut. What a BITCH trying to hold the pulley from turning while loosening it!! But once it initially broke free, it Un threaded nicely.

Well, I proceeded to remove fan, clutch, and shroud together, as the fan won't come out without removing the shroud, and visa versa!!! (That's where IMHO G.M. has a great design bu making the shroud 2 pieces, top and bottom!!!)

Got the pump, and everything else ( the bracket that holds the accesories, pulleys and such in place) back together, I started "digging into" the thermostat. To my surprize, the gasket mating surface, of the top of the manifold, where the thermostat cover goes was corroded, pitted and looked like the surface of the Moon!!!

I was skeptic, but used a new Fel-Pro gasket and some brush on Permatex gasket maker for intallation... 

Well after I got the whole job back together, adding coolant, I got almost all of the second gallon in and I heard what sounded like a leak!!! 😣, so I got out my coolant system pressure tester and pumped it a little. Sure enough that damn water outlet was leaking! So as a last ditch effort to get it going that night I tore it back apart, ( only as far as needed to access the water outlet)cleaned up the problem spot and put a nice bead of high temp Permatex Red RTV there in hopes that it will seal.