well I finally had some time to change the water pump. A bit of dread for fear of 35 yr old rusty bolts... but it came off quite easily maybe 2.5 hours going slow on Friday evening... in the shade and high 70's.
I see where it looks like there has been some coolant seepage on the right (drivers side) near the coolant feed through. pulled the radiator so I could use by 1/2 impact (air I know old school). Need to go get a pully puller as mine is just to small.
I dread the gasket where it meets the oil pan and all these layers. I did buy some permatex right stuff. Also 2 bolts would quite oily.. kind of a sludge. IF oil was leaking into the folt area its not to much more for coolant to leak over The oil and the seep residue is why I feel I better do this right. I will try to post the pic of that.

Water did come out on a bolt of each side near the water feed through. It seems like I need some sealant on those?
What is the deal with those 4 small hose clamps that have the perpendicular bolt to loosen but dont loosen very easily? I'm going to go back with regular clamp if Napa doesn't have those.
The tensioner pully is quite stiff so I will replace that... dont forget that is clockwise to loosen... After a couple hits with a rubber mallet my brain kicked in.
The coolant looks real clean .
I'm thinking of using the shop vac to blow down the thermostat and see how much I can get out of the engine and also the heater. I wont be dont a flush jsut adding back. Are are there any tricks to filling it?
What are the torque specs for the timing cover and water pump?
This 35 year old truck never dripped until the last year. Cant tell where this oil is coming from... Almost seems like from the old Fuel pump area?

 

well I am stuck and cant get the key off so I can pull the balancer. I tried prying on the front nut and washer but it hasn't budged. hit it from side to side with a baby peen. next step will be some heat. it is quite oily down there. it would be so cool to have a spotless engine. Got the chain gasket. Napa has the 3 piece roller chain in stock for 80$ in case I see to much play on the chain, if I ever see it.
Used a 20$ puller from Harbor freight, but take my advice and use the flat contact not the tapered one... I had to you us cone stone on my dremel to fix a rolled over thread that was not letting the bolt go more than 1/2 turn and it was wanting to cross thread if one used power or much force at all.

 

The key is called a woodruff key and has the shape of a quarter cut in half. You might have to get a small chisel and start under the front corner to lift out of the slot.

 

I think its good news the chain only has 1/4" of play. Do you think I should change it anyway?. 120k miles.
I know its a key I didn't know it would be round. I used a mini half round file to cut a groove in the front so I could get a grip on it with my pry tool.
I had collected almost 3 gals of coolant so far... I used a shop vac blowing down the thermostat and the heater hoses and that brings my total so far to just under 3.5 gals.
Got the cover off. There are 3 pan bolts not just 2.
Cover has no pitting. I do see where coolant was getting into this chamber above the coolant passage, Seems likes its supposed to stay dry. There is a drain channel it appears but it was blocked by sealant, so if coolant got in there I can see where it may blow thought the gasket. Overall quite a crazy design. I spent 30 minutes trying to get the old gasket off and I'm maybe 10% done. Not many mechanics would take the time, I have to use a steel razor blade? anything that will soften up this 35 year old smashed and cooked gasket? and an ugly position to work on it...I'm using a 2 step hot tub step set and a foam pad against the bumper so my shins dont get bruised to much.
I'm still baffled as to where this oil leak was happening. it does seem to be around the oil pump cover area.

 

I'm progressing along. no cuss word episodes but I am thinking this sucks. I think I have a 90% chance no oil or water will leak. They were not really worried about maintenance. I guess its not luck that you can do this with out taking out the AC compressor and Alternator. Just moving both side brackets and you can get it out.. I do think I am going to hate the oil cooler on the way in.
I've read where the manual says you assemble the pump and timing cover on the bench and install it all. hmmm. I haven't seen a youtube doing it this way. I've read torque is 17 &20 ft lbs.

My current issue and maybe the last step in disassembly and clean is I cant get the crank oil seal out!
? Its such thin alum. I have blaster soaking now. I dont want to just pry with a big screwdriver.. any tips?

SO I have a tip. be real careful as you cut out the pan gasket rubber tabs on each side which you have to do on a 91 as its all one piece. each of the 3 bolt holes have a metal spacer about .05 thick. you sure dont want to lose that down into the chain sump and have it fling up into the chain.

I am looking at these channels on each inside of the water passages and I think the intent is that if it leaks on the chain side it can drain down and outside rather than into the oil... but both channels were clogged by sealant. I will try to put very little sealant on in these areas..
Actually you shouldn't need sealant except in the corners by the oil pan. I'm going to attempt to use the corks on the bottom. this area worries me if you assembled it all on an engine stand but more more on the truck.

 

Here is a picture showing the weep channels that would let the water leak outside and not into the oil they are shown in red, both holes in the chain cover were coated with sealant. The pocket on the drivers side ( left in picture) above the water feed through had all kinds of water looking calcium looking grunge, kinda white and yellow almost crystal looking and the orange is where I saw evidence of the seep and also if I pulled on the cover the seam would open up and the gasket looked odd in that area. The blue holes are both where water leaked out when I removed the bolts. Those 2 holes had a bunch of sealant around the edges as if the factory put lots of sealant on the threads before putting the bolt in. Which is needed since it goes into the water jacket. its kinda funny how that weep channel goes through the bolt hole on that one side. so if the channel was open maybe that bolt would have been rusted in and broke?
I'm thinking my oil leak was just oil slinging up from the harmonic balancer.. hopefully my new front seal will stop that.

 

To get the old seal out, turn the cover over, place a screwdriver on the backside and lightly hammer around the edges. Once it starts moving, it will keep going.

 

man that seal was the hardest I've ever done... but I've only dont about 10. it was glued in with green something.
I pulled up the flange on opposite sides so I could support it between vise jaws and it took about 4 hard wacks with a 24 oz hammer on a 12" 1/2" extension. Now I cant get the new seal to start in using a small baby peen... the flange isn't flat it has an upturned rim on the edge where you normally hit it. Such an odd shape I cant get it in my wood working vise to press it in. May have to take it to a machine shop.
I'm going to go buy some high temp paint for the cast iron pump but other than that the seal is the last step before going back together.

 

well I am getting ready to dry test bolt up the pump in the chain cover to see if I can get that entire thing to fit around the oil cooler and alternator mount. Just noticed many of the bosses on the new flowkooler pump are 3/4" taller that the stock so my ARP bolt kit I bought isn't going to work so good. Flowkooler doesn't have a suggested bolt kit. May of the bolts do have a flange on them.
Also they say torque is 12-17 ft-lbs. and have a picture showing where the sealant is needed.

 

well 2 trips to napa for the accessory belt tensioner pulley still not the right one. I used VHT primer yesterday and painted it this morning but came home and the paint peeling like onion skin, primer looks good.... the only VHT colors they had was black and orange. They did have a header grey.
Had to buy 4 4.5" 5/16" bolts at $3.50 each,,, and grind 5 2.5"ones down to 2 /1/4"
I will get this.

 

The cussing has started... Those ford engineers were jerks. I dont think there is a way for 1 person to get the pump timing cover ASSY in with the Smog pump bracket in place. So I took off the alternator and smog pump so I could get the bracket out... that smog pump is held in with a bolt that is so close to the pulley that it was rotating the pulley and leaving a tick mark each turn of the wrench. no room at all for a socket and the bolt goes through this spring steel press in bushing that wouldn't let go of the the pump without lots of effort and blaster.
I tried a dry test fit of the pump and plate with out the gasket between the pump and backing plate and it was touching so much the pump housing rotated on the impeller stuck on the plate. .. man that is a tight fit so no water pressure leaks out I imagine. .

 

Well I tried a dry fit to install the pump cover ASSY with the hose on the oil cooler. its just not going to go on.. I dont see how this is possible unless on an engine stand. the crank shaft has to go through the seal hole and the hose needs to go on while the right dog ear has to go behind the oil cooler. after several attempts even with the hose on the pump I have given up and I will mount separately. I inspect the seal as the crank touched it many times and it has at least one nick... The crank has a 1/8" chamfer but it was very sharp on the leading edge... i softened that now with 800 grit. I also found out the hose to the oil cooler is like 3/8" to long stock. IT does appear the factory one was cut off. Good thing I have time off and dont need this truck quite yet. and its been record warm and dry weather.

 

The beginning of flow kooler pump to oil cooler flange is about 2mm different than the stock pump. I tried to mark it to cut so I had the location of the elbow in the same spot as the original... thus I ended up cutting some of both ends of the hose.

 

I would not have cut the reusable one piece gasket.

I would absolutely replace the chain and gears with a good double roller timing chain set.

I’m not sure I would reinstall that key. Go get a new one.

So you aren’t going to replace the timing set? I suppose you feel confident that it will last another 120K miles or more? I don’t.

 

The gasket was glued in at the corners. It was very hard to pull out once on the bench.

The timing chain may be a good idea for 80$ now that I have dont all this.