Water pump success
With lots of help from all of you, I have managed to successfully rebuild and use my original water pump. After many attempts to stop a small leak, I was able to pressure test it on the bench and found that indeed the rear cover was the culprit. I decided to cut my own gasket using cork and that sealed it successfully. I was also able to spin the pump for about 30 minutes using an electric drill and a vacuum cleaner drive belt. Hopefully that will be the end of it and it will work well for years to come. Many thanks once again to all who chimed in to offer assistance.
On to the exhaust!
On to the exhaust!