On Thursday, 12 April 2018 22:07:43 UTC+1, Roger Mills wrote:
On 12/04/2018 17:08, Graeme wrote:
In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes

I do remember my days of A series engines, and many of the 'aluminium'
looking parts in the water jacket would have pretty severe signs of
corrosion. Like the internals of the water pump. Later anti-freeze
(really
made for all ally engines) tended to be pretty good at preventing
corrosion on most materials in use. Until plastic came along with its own
problems. ;-)

Making progress. Got the bottom hose off, and yes, I can see the split.
Also got the heater valve off, and although the spigot (right word?) had
completely corroded away, the assembly itself just lifted off the block.
That, of course, was after I had undone the nuts, which was after
removing the battery to gain access ...

I'm not complaining, though. The car has cost me very little to run,
apart from the usual consumables. The coil exploded once, the fuel gauge
works sometimes and a few other little niggles that I'll sort one day,
other than that, all OK.

While you're at it, check the by-pass hose. This is a short small
diameter vertical hose from just under the thermostat housing down to
the top of the water pump. These have a habit of failing at very
inconvenient times and places - as I know to my cost. They're a right
sod to fit 'cos they go between two metal pipes with only a short gap
between them to wangle the hose in. ISTR that the original hoses were
rigid, and could *only* be fitted with either the head or the water pump
removed, but you could buy concertina type replacements which could
*just* be fitted without any dismantling, but were still hellish fiddly.
--

The later bypass hoses were corrugated.
The trick was to put them is hot water for a while before fitting.
This softened them and made the job a lot easier.