Cooling System Investigations

Encouraged by my success with the master cylinders today, I had some spare time and decided to investigate the condition of the cooling system.

I wasn't expecting too much good news as the failed core plug was found to be completely missing at the back of the engine block and also there was a large split in the bottom radiator hose.
The radiator was fairly easy to remove but when the hose was removed from the water pump, I found lots of nasty gunk in the pump's input hose:



So a new water pump and hose set go on the shopping list...

Also it's been bugging me a little that the engine bay has been painted the wrong colour, not just that but it's also been painted with a brush rather than sprayed so the finish is a little variable. When I took the master cylinders out this afternoon I also noticed that the area beneath them was rusty and in need of attention. Looking that the engine bay I've realised that once the engine's out, there's not much more work required to clear the engine bay of components so that it can be rubbed-down and re-finished.

Looks like this will be added to the list of jobs to do!