Noggins wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 5:27 pm
Looks like the old Jaguar problem, where with just water in the radiator, it ate away the back of the water pump and head bolts.
We found the solution to this on a re-con'd motor was to run nearly 50% antifreeze and replace it every 3 years before it crystallised and ended up blocking thermostats, etc.
I believe the newer antifreeze coolant does not have this problem of crystallising.
Having a fan placed at the outer opening of the original shroud works better than having it placed against the radiator, as it draws air through the whole radiator, rather than creating a cold spot.
As an aside, now that you have access, replace the bearings in the 2 large belt idlers as they do cop a heap of rolling vibrations from the belt whipping.
Ron
Auto Aircond - Heavy Plant Equipment Specialist - was my game for many years.
Back in the days when all plant equipment had to have a R.O.P.S. Cage and driver cabin, on machines that were never designed or built with this in mind.
Yes, as you can see, the water pump bearing takes a lot of load, surprised it lasted 25 yrs actually, but it was destroyed by the load and the effect it had on the massive spinning fan being shifted on its axis as the bearing started to fail ..... I was lucky it didn't result in contact between the fan blades and the radiator.
I expected the tensioner pulley bearing to be stuffed as well, but all three brgs spin freely, no notchy feeling at all.
The Ford EB2 series twin fan assemblies have their own fan shrouds for each 13" fan, two of these assemblies will cover the inner face of the radiator, so they should greatly improve the distributed air flow across all 3 layers of the various cooling devices, while still giving me easy access up behind the radiator to the front of the engine from under the vehicle.
Those two idler pulleys and the tensioner are easy to remove, so no real need for preventive maintenance replacement of hard to access parts ..... the belt will be new for certain, that looks like a nightmare to rethread, even with access to get my arms up in there.
With the constant water leaks it must have had, with the pipe under the inlet manifold having a hole in it and the poorly size matched hoses feeding the gas converter, it must have consumed a lot of water over the yrs, nothing like tap water and cavitation for eating away metal like it was cut with an oxy torch .... but I was amazed that there is no damage in the block area where the pump spins.
That water pump is cast steel, not even cast iron, yet it was torn up like that ... the power of water ......
It will have its distilled water and special coolant at the 50/50 mix when it goes back together ......
T1 Terry
Fixated on looking for the white box it came in, but it had been removed from the white box and had stuff stacked in front of it .... 
= Oh shite 