I swear when you think you are gonna get somewhere someone pulls you back to reality and proves you wrong...
I went outside planning on pulling the radiator, replacing the timing belt & after a few other repairs having the car running this evening. Well, I was proven wrong again. I started by loosening the radiator petcock to drain out the old coolant & it wouldn't drain. I thought there was something wrong so I kept trying but only a few drips. I got out a wrench & ended up removing it, to see nasty, brown, cruddy antifreeze coming out. Flushed out the radiator with a garden hose until I got clear water but was concerned. Looked at the petcock & it was packed with so much dirt & crud it wouldn't drain. No problem, I figured I would replace it. Got to thinking what else is plugged, so I went ahead & pulled the upper & lower hose. Interesting find with the upper hose. The t-stat housing was so corroded there is 1/4" of the housing gone at the top where the hose goes. The t-stat was also stuck in the housing. More muddy coolant in the head... I went ahead & checked the hose & it is mushy so that is gonna be replaced. Also removed the lower hose, which is also crap, as well as the hoses going from the heater core to the t-stat & water pump. All those rubber hoses will be replaced. I went ahead & removed the fan from the water pump & fortunately the bearing is still good. Just as a precaution I am gonna remove it & make sure there is no debris in there, as well as get a new gasket.
All this corrosion & crud in the coolant is now making me wonder about the condition of both the radiator, and head gasket. The radiator is a no brainer. Remove it & have it pressure tested, as well as professionally flushed. The head gasket, that is a little different. I'm not sure about tackling that just yet, as I wasn't planning to at this time but might end up doing it anyways. It's also got me concerned of that heater core. Wondering what kind of crap is in it or if it will leak as well.
So the day started off with me planning on having the car running by the end of the day, now with the realization that it needs more than I thought to get the car running, and with no cash to do it with. Not a good day at Matt Manter's house. First the tranny goes out on the 77, now the 80 needs more work than thought in order to be driveable.