I recently purchased a 66 mustang couple that has a 302 crate motor. When installed, who knows. Took out the water pump to replace it, had no backing plate. Bought new one (hope its the right one as holes do line up) and this one has a backing plate. Is this ok? Also removed the thermostat housing and noticed that there is no thermostat. Cooling issue?? Also bought a new radiator and transmission cooling lines hoping this will help. Radiator looks very old so might as well replace it. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I am very new to this game!!

 

Are you sure the backing plate from the old pump is not stuck on the block? Double check the impeller of the pumps, they should look identical. Some motors have a reverse flow so the pump will look similar but the impeller will be different.

For the thermostat, sounds like someone pulled it due to over heating or made the common incorrect assumption that running the motor without it would produce more power....

 

I double checked to make sure that the backing plate was not stuck to the block. I thought that could have been a possibility. Rotation is the same for the impeller on the one I bought so that should check out. I am wondering that could have been why the car was having a cooling problem as there was no backing plate. Would thing that would have something to do with the flow of anti-freeze.. Once I put it back together, I will know more, I hope!!