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7/15/19: Today, I finished the job of resealing the water pump by adding antifreeze. Prior to her first “Road Trip”, I want to check the fluid levels in the rear and transmission. I’ve had an issue removing the plug on the rear end, because it is worn, rounded and I can’t keep a wrench on it. I took my die grinder and sharpened the flats so it would retain the wrench better. That did the trick as I was able to remove the plug. Once removed, I further filed the plug in a vice to give me a nice square. I topped off the rear end with 90 weight oil and reinstalled the plug.

While I was filling the rear end, I saw that there was a puddle under the engine. Yeah, the water pump was leaking again. Sh..! Sure enough, the leak was coming from the back of the relocation plate where it seals against the engine block. I re-drained the radiator and removed everything associated with the removal of the pump and of course the pump itself. 15 minutes tops. Lots of practice! The leak was at the very bottom, an area that is only 1/4” thick and looked as if I didn’t put any silicone on it. Evidently, whatever I’m doing is not working and I needed to go back and read directions. Something most men don’t like to do. The instructions stated “Apply a 1/4” bead and assemble immediately tightening until the sealant had squeezes out a bit. Let it sit for 1 hour the tighten an additional 1/2 turn.” Previously I had applied the sealant very sparingly so as not to get gobs squeezing out into the coolant jacket. I know from experience that practice sometimes creates more issues down the road. Thus the reason I prefer gaskets over silicone. I suppose I applied it a little too sparingly. Another reason may be that I only waited 1/2 hour to let it setup before tightening. This time I applied about a 3/16” bead, assembled and tightened until I got a squeeze then let it set for the hour then tightened the additional 1/2 turn. I didn’t feel that was enough to keep the water pump from coming loose so I decided to re-torque in 24 hours after it fully cured.

Leaving the radiator and the remaining parts off so I can re-tighten and refill again, I turned my attention to the transmission to check the oil. I rolled back the floor mat and removed the transmission cover to gain access to the tranny. The cover is another PO debacle, where a thin sheet of galvanized steel was used as the cover. The replacement was not fastened down so it is easy to remove. This will be replaced in the future when I replace the floor pans. The tranny plug was easy to remove and I added the rest of the bottle, which wasn’t quite enough to top it off but hopefully enough that the tranny won’t disintegrate. Time to quit, tomorrow is another day!