Cadillac Repair: water pump, price qoute, small block chevy

Question
Hello Bill

 I got a price quote from a repair shop to install a water pump in my 87'cadi coupe deville v8, which would cost me $285.00, then I got a price qoute on the pump which was $56.00. Chiltons Book Manual was very breif, and made it sound simple to enstalle, but when I looked at where it was located. I was petrified ?

 Will I need special tools to install it my self.  

Answer
Hi Dave, I'm not going to kid you this job is harder than your small block chevy but it isn't as hard as it looks. Two things that will give you the edge are a propane torch useing mapp gas with a long hose between the bottle and the flame end or an oxyacetelyne torch set with a small brazeing tip because those torx bolts sometimes like to sieze in the block and alittle bit of heat will help get them out. If they don't start to turn with alittle bit of effort then give it the heat but stop short of turning the head red. And keep a fire extinguisher or garden hose handy just in case. Then get a torx bit, its eithor T40 or T45 I don't remember which off hand, and cut it down with a hacksaw so about 1/4"-5/16" will stick out from a socket. You should glue the bit in so it doesn't come out before the job is done and use a 3/8" drive socket for extra leverage. The other thing to remember is if you aren't reuseing the anti freeze and are going to flush out the system then stop by the Caddy dealer and pick up a 6 pack of seal tabs to put in the radiator before adding the fresh antifreeze. A good sharp putty knife type scraper will help get the gasket material off as it likes to stick to the timing cover. One last word of caution BE VERY CAREFULL how tight you tighten those small 10mm head nuts and bolts so you don't overtighten them. Borrowing a torque wrench might be a good idea for all the bolts but especially the small ones. 62inlbs on the small ones and 30ftlbs on the big pump bolts and 20-25ftlbs on the pulley bolts useing blue thread lock so the bolts don't come loose. Hope that helps. Bill