My First Hiccup, finally put this to bed after the 3rd try Options

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When we returned from Rt66 '16 I pulled my exhaust system down for a little trimming and noticed water in the left bank muffler! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif) We did drive through a ton of water on that trip. Then when returning from Costco yesterday it acted as if it were starved for fuel when it stumbled during acceleration. The fuel filter was the same one that came on the engine so I ordered another one. When I looked at the filter to check which one I had I noticed the coolant level in the expansion tank/reservoir had dropped. Well, there you are. Head gasket time. Now, I'm wondering if the stumble was due in fact to the head gasket failing? Decisions; should I fix this one which presently has ~ 185K or buy a JDM replacement. After perusing the net I found a few peep's whose JDM experience was less than stellar. Apparently it is a crap shoot as to what you get and the 40-50K avg mileage is (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bs.gif) . So, for about 1K I can pick up another engine and hope I bought a good one or open this one up and hope that is all it needs since it wasn't overheated. What does the the Wasser family think?

EDIT: It's an EZ30D 6cyl

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Thx for the video Jim but mine is a six. I do have the factory manual which is super! So this is what it looked like fully dressed sans the idler laying on top.



And with her bra off (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif)



Stripped off her chains



A peek inside the water pump housing. Take a close look a see that the 4 bolt holes are 6mm. You can also see the thermostat in the background.



Now look at the size of the holes on the flange of the water pump. They're 8mm and 2 of them are tapped. Once you unscrew the 4 6mm bolts that hold the pump in place you still need to get it out. All you need are 2 8mm bolts that thread into the flange and push against the case. Then you just tighten each a little and walk it out. No "pulling or prying or crying or cussing". 15 seconds and out. Brilliant! Gave me a DUH moment when I thought about it. Why aren't similar pumps all engineered like this?



Here's one showing the smaller screw against the larger hole in the flange.



Stopped here now with the cam gears removed. Tomorrow I'll pull the rear cover off (which is basically a mirror image of that cover laying on the floor) and next the heads then off I go to find a good machinist. Some of you may remember my past experiences with some of these local machinist's. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)