Hello, Continuing to re-assemble my 66 Darts, 225. The water pump had deteriorated to the point that the pump inlet was cracked and powdery. After I got the pump off I was surprised to see a lot of rust and could feel rust particles inside the area marked with the black arrow in my picture. I'm somewhat alarmed by this. Will a good flushing take care of the rust particles? If so what's the best flushing method, the radiator is already removed. Also should I try to clean off as much surface rust inside the pump "chamber" on the block?

Another daisy chained question. There was no cap or wires on the vehicle, I have the firing order but how do I best determine what is #1 terminal? I saw somewhere on the board that number one is near the vacuum advance, but I'd like a make sure I have it wired properly since I'll be trying to kick the motor over soon (I was thrilled to be able to hand turn the engine" and I have a bunch of MIA parts replaced, including a "hand done" rebuilt carb. I want to minimize the things I need to troubleshoot should the engine become cranky when trying to start.

Thank you in advanced.

Jay

Hello, Jay. Last year I dismantled a slant that had been sitting for about 12 years. Here's what I saw when I popped the water pump off. When I took the freeze plugs out, I could see the entire water jacket looked about the same. I had planned to strip the engine completely and have it baked clean, anyway, so it wasn't a problem, but I don't know if flushing it would have been enough. I'm curious to know if others have managed to clear up this much corrosion without taking the motor apart.

helped a buddy with a straight 6 Chevy 194 that was nearly that bad.... we took the T stat out, drained the system, flushed it til it came out as clear as it could, and then dumped some "Iron Out" in the radiator, and ran it til warm, and you wouldn't believe the chunks we got out of it when we flushed it again.... We did that a 2nd time then flushed the snot out of it til it again came out clean and let the garden hose run a little more to be sure the cleaner was gone.
this is a 63 Nova that was his Dad's, it's an honest 37K mile car, hasn't been driven on the roads now in 30+ years, body is all restored, he just has to get the interior back in it and a set of tires and it should be driveable again It's been in his garage ever since it came home from the career center body shop where the car's owner was a welding teacher til he retired. I know it has been over 12 years since it was brought home after the body was finished.
sometimes sitting is worse than being driven the snot out of

You can start by just running a hose into the upper inlet on the front of the head (take the thermostat housing off if there's a thermostat installed) and see how much crap comes out the water pump pocket. Definitely a good idea to remove any rust scale you can reach. If you can remove the drain plug on the rear passenger side of the block, that will help as well. You'll have to jam a screwdriver or something in the hole once the plug is out, because there's probably a solid wall of gunk blocking the hole.

If you have a pressure washer and the manifolds are off, another thing you can try is knock out all the freeze plugs and shoot the pressure washer into the cooling jacket from as many angles as possible. That's what I usually do if I have an old engine apart outside of the car. Just make sure you don't get water anywhere it shouldn't be; tape over the intake and exhaust ports, install a valve cover with gasket, tape over the breather and PCV holes, etc.

Once you've flushed out as much rust as you can and have it all back together, try an acid flush with the engine running.

_________________
Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing

I would put #1 plug wire in the 4 O'clock spot. Distributor rotor will turn clockwise. Really it does not matter, where #1 is on the distributor cap so long as you have the firing order correct.

Thanks everyone for the great advise.

Jay