UPDATE:

My WP drive seal and WP gaskets came in (special order) from the local dealership today so I picked them up on my lunch break. (riding the motorcyle) Get home around 5:30 (which is now dark as night outside) and tear into this little project. attemping to beat the rain the entire time because i have a driveway but no garage ......
.......well i just now finished at 1:00am!!

I finally get the waterpump off, which btw you MUST remove the air pump bracket (read a debate earlier on this), and made quite a mess with coolant pouring everywhere. duhh. old gaskets were obviously trashed, WP bearings were free spinning and a dry weephole..goodnews?
....to my dismay i realize you cannot change the WP seal without removing the opti because it overlaps the seal by about 2 millimeters SOB! the whole time im thinking this is the worst vehicle design ever created Now wishing i had a new opti to put in as well. since there is no better time then RIGHT NOW! The only time the cursed LT1 cooperated was with the crank pully popping right off with a few taps with a hammer and not having to use a puller...(I replaced the crank seal last summer)

Opti is now off, woohoo. i dont have a screwdriver bit to take off the teeny tiny hex-star screws that come with the stocker. So with nothing else to do other than smash it i just shake it around cursing the design and notice the clover shaped spinning part has a slight wiggle to it...old bearings maybe? this normal?

Popped the old wp drive seal out. made my own tool from a highlighter to seat the seal correctly along with using a lighter to warm it up to make it more forgiving. new seal went in perfectly after tapping it with a socket.

Finally with storm clouds overhead rumbling, I flush everything with the hose, spray into the wp holes on the block, spray into the rad, sprayed into the heater core, sprayed into the overflowtank and siphoned all the mud out, and cleaned up the wp real nice. ugly stuff came out from everywhere
I coat the gaskets with some gasket maker, button it all back up, pour a tub of dex-cool into the WP throught the tstat hole, fill up the radiator with some H2o some and she started right up. Idled for about 20 mins, bled air bubbles, warmed up nicely, heat blowing strong, not a drip!!

This was my first time getting the opti and water pump out if you cant tell. and I only had 1 extra nut leftover.

Taking the beast to work tomorrow so i hope everything holds together and liquids stay where they're supposed to!

 

Congratulations....sounds like you did a good job Sick...

 

Congrats man! Always happy to read SUCCESS stories!

 

And those engineers at GM think they are so smart, then how come we can put it together with less parts!!!!

Congrats on getting it back together.

 

Thanks for the support. Next to the long tube header install this was the most grueling job i've ever done on the car. Still fun though. A cold brewski (or two) of Natty Boh really capped the night off nicely as i feel like i needed some type of reward for my efforts.

Next time the rad fans are definately comming out which'll make the whole process alot easier.

2 more questions though... My coolant dipstick still pulls out some ugly mud muck when i check the levels. whats the best way to flush the coolant reservoir? siphoning doesnt really get all the crap out.. any suggestions?

Also my check engine light wont go off after disconnecting the batt. Running rich but other than that the car seems to be fine. Might this have something to do with the car running without the MAF hooked up. In all my years the car would never run without the MAF hooked up, it would just stall out. Last night it would start up over and over without the MAF.. ideas?

 

Note the reservoir level,take the battery out and pull out the reservoir. Empty the reservoir and safely deal with the coolant. Flush it with a garden hose. Reinstall and put the level back to what it was when you noted it at the start of the flush.

 

Thanks, guess the best way is to take it out completely. Would've done so last night but I cant find my 12" socket extension to losen the battery bolt

 

Well the check engine light was because of a loose MAF connector not fully "clicked". . I guess there's some sort of safe mode the ecu goes into to allow the car to run without a MAF sensor, although it absolutlely kills gas milage. So check engine light is off! Still drip free on the driveway!! woohoooo!