After all of the warnings and the fact that my water pump was starting to seep coolant, I jumped in and replaced it and the thermostat today. Car has 126,000 miles and around 60 track days. I bought the OEM replacement water pump and low temp thermostat from Pelican.
I didn't have any problems but the old hoses were pretty well stuck on and it took a good bit of wrestling to get them off.
You can see that my old water pump was slowly seeping and the engine heat was burning off the water leaving behind a residue. The coolant level was occasionally slightly low and I could smell coolent after driving.
The old pump (left in photo) looked to be in good shape but the shaft had just a bit of a side to side wobble which was the likely source of the seep. The closeup shows that all of the blades were completely intact. Inside the engine looked clean without any visible residue or buildup.
I also replaced the coolant cap. My car still had the original version -00 and I updated to the most recent -04.
I'll fill it up and bleed the system tomorrow morning. Total time was about 4 hrs but I took my time and enjoyed being out in the 80F weather!
