When the power steering failed, I ordered a replacement pump, new coolant hoses and found a replacement for the water pump. It was a lot of stuff to replace all at once, but it seemed silly to pull the power steering pump out and not take the opportunity to renovate a fragile cooling system.
Once the shroud, fan and belts are removed, there’s quite a bit of room to work. (a real luxury with this car!): The power steering pump is already out by this stage.My temp gauge was all over place, so I wasn’t sure there was even a thermostat in the system. In fact, there was. I replaced it, and the gauge is still all over the place.A wire wheel and some emery cloth cleaned the coolant reservoir up nicely. I was tempting to paint this clear, but I went with glossy black in the end. (Mine has a small dent in it, as most do; it can be fixed by leading, but I didn’t bother.)The dent is really hardly visible.Only the actual hydraulic pump is provided when you buy a rebuilt power steering pump. The rest of the parts you will need to take off, clean and assemble onto the new unit. I needed a new filter for mine (mail order only–and a delay) and lost the tiny woodruff key for the pulley (and had to fabricate a new one.)The old paint was thin on these parts and also came off easily with a wire wheel mounted on a hand-held drill. Once assembled, it painted up nicely.The new water pump came from a local auto parts store (in stock!). It was manufactured by Bosch, of all companies. The fit was right, but the look is not original. It came unpainted, so I painted it blackWith all the components off, I cleaned up the front of the motor with some degreaser. Mostly I wanted to see where the leaks are coming from; for a daily driver, keeping a motor pristine is pretty much out of the question.Getting the paint off the shroud was a bear. There were multiple layers, some with rust underneath. The final coat of paint on this part was not great, but it’s almost impossible to work on the ‘Bird and not set tools on the shroud. I’m betting it will need more paint on a regular basis.The water pump is heavy to install, but with some sealant on the gaskets to hold them in place, I was able to do it without a helper.The reservoir is harder to install than it looks. The thermostat is sandwiched in with no real positive way to lock it in. Mine slipped out on the first try, causing a leak. Moving faster the second time did the trick.Amazing how some paint and a new radiator cap can dress up an everyday engine. After a few test drives, some hose clamps needed tightening, but aside from that, the coolant system and new power steering pump were working great.
