308 Antifreeze & Coolant Hose Replacement

I started working on changing out the antifreeze and replacing the coolant hoses today and thought I would document the process. I got the front end of the car complete today. I replaced the "twin" hoses leading to and from the radiator and the lower radiator hose (the upper radiator hose & the long hose had been done before I took ownership of the car last year). I got the NAPA (Gates) gold stripe hose #633 (3 feet of 1-5/8" hose) to get me started. I replaced a few of the 2" clamps and cleaned and reused a couple others (as they were in good shape).

I will be moving back to the engine side in the coming days and will keep posting. I think this is where things will get interesting (hoses under the intake). I also need to refinish the expansion tank as there is a lot of rust on the outside. Here are the steps I took so far with a few pics. All in today, this process took me about 2.5 hours, including cleanup, and there was a mess More to come...

1) got the car partially up in the air (the lift makes all the difference here)
2) removed the front access panel
3) removed the long hose from the lower "twin" pipe to drain the system
4) removed the "twin" hoses support clamp then removed the hoses
5) removed the lower radiator hose
6) cleaned clamps to be reused
7) cut the new hose to size
8) installation was the reverse of steps 2-5
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Agreed, plan to do all the hoses over the course of this winter project.

Unfortunately did not get much accomplished today other than to pull the hose off the expansion tank to sand down all the rust on the nipple. I sanded it all down and topped it with Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator. I'll respay the entire espansion tank with high temp paint at another date. Other than that I just started researching and mapping out how I am going to get to all the hoses in the engine bay.

Tomorrow, I'll be pulling the water pump and assembly off as it looks like that is the only way to get at the hoses under the intake plenum. If all goes well tomorrow, I hope to have those complete. I'll than have to order the thermostat (& gasket), the O-ring, and the water pump gasket prior to reassembly. I hope this is not to bad of a job on an '85 308. I see some posts that say the water pump comes right off and I see others that say the timing belt covers need to come off (and that takes some work for the front bank). Any thoughts / comments from the group would be appreciated (I'm a little intimidated right now).
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Thanks for the heads up. I will pick one up the next time I am at the auto parts store. I think it is going to be a while before I get the fluid back in the car. The hoses in the engine bay are a little more difficult to access than I originally anticipated. It will be nice to have a "clean" way to drain the fluid. My eyes and shirt thank you.

 

Okay, today was a fun day. Got the water pump off (4 bolts and it slides right out, assembly and all).

Steps:

1) remove rear tire and wheel well liner
2) drain the block (I used the worse funnel you will ever see... I folded cardboard in half and cut to length... the coolant ran down that and dripped into the catch pan... not pretty but worked great... no fluid where I did not want it... pic 1)
3) remove coolant tube running down side of motor (attaches at the thermostat and by the lower passenger side fire wall... pic 2)
4) loosen bolts on water pump belt tensioner (pic 3)
5) loosen clamps on hoses behind water pump assembly
6) unbolt 4 bolts holding on water pum & assembly and it slides right out (pic 4)
7) two coolant hoses can be removed by getting you hands in under the plenum and loosing the clamps and the hoses slide right out (pic 5 & 6)

Probably a good time to replace the small hose coming from the expansion tank to the header pipe under the plenum as that is the easy way to get to the clamp and fitting... see last pic) It is NAPA part #10100 (5' of 3/8 ID coolant hose)

I just ordered the all the necessary parts frm McCann's today (O ring, Thermostat & Gasket, Water Pump Gasket) so hopefully they will be here on Friday so I can keep moving. I'll spend tomorrow completing the hoses on the drivers side of the engine and cleaning all the crud on the engine.

Birdman, thanks for the tip. Going to NAPA on Friday morning to pick up more hoses, I'll see if they have one there.

Doug, you do not need to pull the plenum to get the hoses off, just pull the water pump... see below.

I hope this is helping for those who are considering doing the job themselves... pretty easy so far.
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I don't know if I am just getting tired, it was cold, or had too much to drink last night, but these two hoses seemed to kick my butt today. I got the two hoses on the driver side, one right under the rear bank distributor cap (very tight access) and the one that attaches to the other end of that pipe (lower drivers side firewall).

I am hopeful the parts will come from McCann's tomorrow so I can get everything put back together on Fri / Sat, get her filled with fluid, check for leaks, and call it a project.
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Anyone know the appropriate torque settings for the four (4) water pump housing to engine bolts and the three (3) water pump to housing nuts? I was using 20 ft/lbs on the four bolts and 15 ft/lbs on the three nuts and snapped the lower stud. PLEASE HELP. I thought I had the right torque settings, but obviously I was wrong! AHH!

Thankfully the broken stud came out easy with a set of vise grips.

Thanks, Joe

 

Thanks David. I just checked the 10mm and they were at 7 ft/lbs (I did just one light tug after snug... learned the hard way about over tightening). I know I did the 13mm at 18 ft/lbs so looks like I am in good shape.

Joe

 

I put the water pump and housing back on the 308 with all new gaskets and the pump leaked. I took the unit back off the car and have it apart again. I tried to short cut the stud I broke with a bolt. Now that I have it apart again, I want to get the right parts. I need to get part #18, #19, & #42, but can't seem to locate them. McCann's, T Rutland, & Italian Ferrari Parts don't even list the parts. Ricambi list the parts, but does not carry them. Any ideas? I am mostly concerned about part #18 (part #11500721 - stud), the rest I can improvise on, but this one I really need. Picture of part is in the attached word file. This turned out to be a nightmare of a project. Thankfully winters are long here in New England and I have time to fix my mistakes (I also over tightened the 5/8" hose in the front of the car and collapsed the aluminum tube and had to order a new one at a cost of $215).

Any thoughts from the group?
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Thanks John. I am going to call Ricami in the morning. They list the part but indicate "contact us" on price. I am hopeful that they can track them down for me. I am trying to find alternatives it that fails. Also have a call into the dealer to see if they have it.

Also, for those of you who have removed and reinstalled the water pump and housing, did any of you use any type of peratex? or did you just use the gasket and O-ring?

I am not sure where the small leak was coming from... I just saw a small amount of fluid under the car and got larger each day (there was a small amount of fluid coming off the bottom of the water pump... but could not see the point of origin).