Pulled the water pump – eewww… nasty. Also popped the oil pump cap off and cleaned out what I could behind it. The aftermarket mechanical oil pressure sending unit is now in the bin as well – gotta find the right fitting to put a proper electric oil pressure sender back on. Also got the rest of the main body of the block cleaned up with a conical wire brush… that little die grinder really blows through the air in the compressor – seems like it ran non-stop once I started using it. Also dropped all of the bolts for the oil pan and water pump in a jar of Simple Green to soak. Hopefully, that’ll clean them up.
Tomorrow, install the new water pump and oil pan, tape off a few things, and paint this sucker.