IIRC I ended up just cutting the tranny hoses and spending 89¢ at Autozone for one foot of new one. Still a tough job but maybe better than fighting with the radiator still in. Besides I took it down to the radiator shop and got it cleaned up so that gives me one less thing to worry about.

One other problem was my fan was stuck to the water pump with 60 years of crud. I WD40'd it, then took a 1 inch board, slid it between the pulley and the water pump and gave it a few rubber mallet smacks. Rotate, repeat. rotate, repeat. After awhile the pulley moved out a little. I slid it back, exposing the full clutch flange, which I then wriggled off. Then the pulley wriggled off.

And finally.... When you pull the water pump leave the little rubber hose clamped to a nipple so you won't forget to replace it when you replace the pump.