Water Pump/Housing follow up ?
 

Okay, I was able to get the pump off today, however the housing broke loose first so I took both off. As you know, this required me to also take the air pump off as well as the oil metering tubes.

What I would like to know is there anything else that could go wrong that I should address now while I have the front off. I plan on changing the upper and lower rad hose, as well as the thermostat.

When I took the pump off the housing, there was no gasket, is this normal? I plan on using the gasket that came with the new pump as well as RTV stuff front and back when putting it back on. Is that all I use also where the housing connects?

The housing is rusty, should I do anything to it while its out?

The piece that screws into it has a crush washer on it, can I use the same one when replacing?

Thanks
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Any help please?

Would it be okay to take some rust bullet (like por15) to the inside of the pump housing to clean it up some?

Are these still available?

Also, I see on blackdragon there is a gasket for the housing to engine, however there was no gasket on mine, would just RTV do the job?

Personally I'd get the gasket and use a small amount of RTV as well just to make sure. The plug on the back of the housing is the sensor that tells the choke to kick off once the engine is warmed up and yes you can reuse that crush washer, I've never had a problem doing that.
As for cleaning up the housing just make sure all the gasket surfaces are perfectly smooth and free of old gasket pieces. A wire wheel does a good job of this.
Double check that there is no gasket on the back of the housing though, I'd find it hard to believe there wasn't one....

Oh as for the question in your second post, I would not attempt to paint the inside of the housing. If any of the paint peels (which it probalby will being exposed to antifreeze all the time) it could clog up the coolant passages. Better to just leave it as is.

you could just take some cleaner and get that junk off from it, but yes don't paint it because of reasons stated above. You COULD just use RTV if you use plenty, and make sure there are no air bubbles on it.

I just went through this ordeal. Buy yourself a roll of gasket material from auto parts store. make yourself a template out of several (~8) layers of masking material. cut own gaskets. use 5/16 or 3/8" drill to punch holes. torque studs to 16 foot pounds (search my name, i just fixed this yesterday) in the proper sequence. have fun.

I think I will make my own for the housing to block gasket and use the RTV. I dont want any leaks when I put it back together.

Going to also try to clean up all the old oil before putting it back together. Had the beehive leak, guess thats where its came from.

iron housings
 

I would soak the cast iron water pump and housing in Evaporust for a few days.
Consider painting them with epoxy or engine enamel.