Water pump impeller blades

[Frodo]

OK, sorry to be so dense, but I need to get specific here...

To begin with, I currently have both the water pump and the thermostat off the car. This is what it looks like:




I've labeled the openings into the chamber where the thermostat lives.

A: The big opening over which the thermostat housing is bolted, with its gasket. One of the big hoses (either going to or returning from the radiators) attaches to it.

B: Follow the arrow; this opening goes up to the center opening of the water pump (where the impeller blades reside).

C: This is the opening over which the bottom part of the water pump unit attaches; it's got a small hose coming off it that I believe goes to the heater core and the bleeder valve.

D: This is the opening seen at the back of Opening C. It travels off to the right somewhere, I think communicating with the other big hose that makes up the circuit through the radiators. Don't know if it goes anywhere else.

As far as I can figure, the thermostat opening and closing affects only one thing: movement through the big opening A. Movement through B, C and D are not affected by the thermostat, right?

OK, to your suggestion specifically, ie to send water through the center hole of the water pump. So you're talking about fitting a hose (somehow--I have gotten some suggestions) onto Opening 1 here?:



I'm assuming you mean do this with the thermostat on, otherwise water simply runs down through B all over my garage floor. (As far as I can tell, Opening 1 goes only that one direction...wish I had one of the flexible endoscope videos!) So, if I put my t'stat on, do I do it with the t'stat itself in the housing? Being cold, it would be closed and prevent water movement out through the big opening A. [[ And since the water pump won't be turning, I guess little/no water will be going up through B. IGNORE that previous sentence---I wasn't thinking when I wrote it: the water pump isn't installed at all while we're flushing ]] So that leaves Cand D. Is that where we want water to flow, in order to flush out the block and the heads?