Possible damaged threads for thermostat mounting

[brokencase]

The front grill opening is not very large on the Scorpio. Perhaps this is a contributor to the cracked head issue.

I've never felt comfortable with an electric fan conversion on the Scorpio. I was always worried that I might encounter a situation as you have described, where an electrical failure occurs and the temperature runs away.

I just feel that the thermostatic clutch is a more dependable arrangement.

I state this fully aware that there is probably a significant performance improvement associated with installing an electric fan conversion.

[StratosSpawn]

Hi again all. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get those last two bolts holding the old water pump on, but haven’t come up with anything as of yet. The shop manual doesn’t seem to indicate anything specific other than “remove the water pump”. The only thing I can think of is to try and find an offset 10mm box end wrench like my father used to have. The wrenches I have aren’t angled enough to get past the casting of the water pump and I don’t want to risk using the open end and rounding off the heads of the bolts to cause myself even further issues.
As I mentioned before, the only other thing I can think of is to remove the crank pulley to be able to get a ratchet and socket to securely hold onto the bolt head.
I’m really hoping that someone here has personally changed out their water pump and can recall any little tricks or issues that they had to overcome.
I’m really trying to get the water pump swapped out before the snow is supposed to fall on Sunday, but that may be a pipe dream. The downside is that the car is up on ramps down towards the bottom of our driveway which makes it somewhat challenging for my wife to back her car past without going off the side of the driveway (heck, even I find it difficult as it’s only about 10-12 feet wide where the Scorpio is up on the ramps).

[DPDISXR4Ti]

I’ve been trying to figure out how to get those last two bolts holding the old water pump on, but haven’t come up with anything as of yet.

I had no issues at all, but indeed I did have the pulley off. That's not that tough once you realize the right way to get it off (I think I created a thread for that).

You can't just you get a box wrench in there?

[my8950]

The front grill opening is not very large on the Scorpio. Perhaps this is a contributor to the cracked head issue.

I've never felt comfortable with an electric fan conversion on the Scorpio. I was always worried that I might encounter a situation as you have described, where an electrical failure occurs and the temperature runs away.

I just feel that the thermostatic clutch is a more dependable arrangement.

I state this fully aware that there is probably a significant performance improvement associated with installing an electric fan conversion.

You have cracked Scorpio heads? I've got a the engine in the car still, but heads are right there if someone needs. They can be removed pretty quick I assume.

[brokencase]

I do not have cracked heads, but they are a known issue on Scorpios.

There are several reasons heads crack on a Scorpio.
1) The initial 2.9L head castings were vulnerable and were revised by Ford in 89.
2) The original fan clutch fails (at around 75k miles) and the owner fails to notice.
3) The temp gauge sensor fails and the owner fail to notice or do anything about it.
4) Failure to properly purge air out of the cooling system when replacing/flushing coolant.
5) The front grill opening is small on the Scorpio.

Item 4 can be addressed by drilling a small 1/8" hole in the thermostat.
Some thermostats come with this bypass hole.

[StratosSpawn]

I’ve been trying to figure out how to get those last two bolts holding the old water pump on, but haven’t come up with anything as of yet.

I had no issues at all, but indeed I did have the pulley off. That's not that tough once you realize the right way to get it off (I think I created a thread for that).

You can't just you get a box wrench in there?

I was able to get a box end wrench in there and onto the two remaining bolts, but unfortunately there is not enough clearance to rotate the wrench more than about 1/16 of a turn. I was able to just break them free but not enough to be able to just use my fingers to fully remove them as they are still fairly snug.
I’m really wanting to avoid having to pull the crankshaft pulley off so that I don’t possibly introduce more issues. I was thinking of getting a 10mm shallow swivel socket, but I’m not sure as that would work due to the proximity of the pulley. I’m thinking of something like this:

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BK_7745 ... lsrc=aw.ds&

Or this one:

TEKTON 1/4 Inch Drive x 10 mm Universal Joint Socket | SHD08110
https://a.co/d/64heKZk

Does anyone happen to know if either of these would work? I’m leaning more towards the Tekton one due to its dimensions.

[MarkM]

What about a ratcheting wrench, like this?

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/APX86910

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

Hi again all. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get those last two bolts holding the old water pump on, but haven’t come up with anything as of yet. The shop manual doesn’t seem to indicate anything specific other than “remove the water pump”. The only thing I can think of is to try and find an offset 10mm box end wrench like my father used to have. The wrenches I have aren’t angled enough to get past the casting of the water pump and I don’t want to risk using the open end and rounding off the heads of the bolts to cause myself even further issues.
As I mentioned before, the only other thing I can think of is to remove the crank pulley to be able to get a ratchet and socket to securely hold onto the bolt head.
I’m really hoping that someone here has personally changed out their water pump and can recall any little tricks or issues that they had to overcome.
I’m really trying to get the water pump swapped out before the snow is supposed to fall on Sunday, but that may be a pipe dream. The downside is that the car is up on ramps down towards the bottom of our driveway which makes it somewhat challenging for my wife to back her car past without going off the side of the driveway (heck, even I find it difficult as it’s only about 10-12 feet wide where the Scorpio is up on the ramps).

It is easy to remove the crank pulley on the XR4ti. You just bump the starter to spin the engine while a 6 point socket and wrench are wedged against the ground. You can't do that on this car for some reason? I disconnect the coil wire so the engine doesn't start. Sometimes you just have to disassemble more than you really would like depending on how things work out. I have also made tools to work around an issue. Like taking a spare socket and cut it down shorter with a cut off wheel on an angle grinder. Then cut a section of square screwdriver length to insert into that so I have something to grab onto. I think this was on a water cooled turbo center section. I've also taken an old open end wrench and ground it down to slip it into an opening. Have you ever used one of those 3/8 drive socket extensions that allows the socket to wiggle on the end just a little? They are less bulky than an actual swivel joint and my tool of choice to get at the bolt for the distributor clamp.