My thermo tower finally got here (Harvey the hurricane slowed it down). Went in with round one. Water pump, serp belt, upper and lower rad hoses, the new tower.
Removed tower: there are torx bolts holding in the tower bits...my car is 2005 NA vert. I got long torx tools on T handles. They all made a slight pop when I broke them. Still being careful with the right rear because of what I read here, but pop...no problem. Then the left rear made the dreaded slip/strip feeling. I got everything else out of the way in case I had to resort to the break it with a hammer method. Put the t handle torx tool on and pushed as hard as I could to seat it in what was left of the star and pop. Out.
Tossed all that aside and went to water pump. Broke the bolts on the pully with belt still taught. Got a cheater bar and my 3/8th ratchet went right in the tensioner with no extension and with a counter clockwise pull the belt came right of the top pully (Water pump pully). After a little cleaning of the surface it went in very quickly. Very quick and I'm old and slow. There were 7 bolts on my old pump and only 5 on the new one. I only took out only the 5 that were on the new one and off she came.
Then I put on the new tower. Cross over pipe 1st. Pretty quick. The hard part is the clamps on the big hoses. Then the serp belt. After taking lots of pictures and trying to memorize the way the belt is threaded and trying to go behind the old one with the new one...well it was a cluster.
Best way is to yank out old belt and download the diagram and use it for reference.
Serp belt diagram
That was what Google showed me...and it really helped. Just yank the old one out and use this. Memorizing the way it goes on is a no go.
I always looked at the grooves on my belt to look for wear and never paid attention to the smooth side. Big mistake.
Still some belt left...not.
There isn't enough left to even call it a spare. I got lucky this didn't leave me stranded. Belts are cheap. I'm doing them every 2 to 3 years out from now on.
Another interesting thing: When I was removing the upper rad hose, the clamp by the radiater was tight so I took off the 5 torx that hold down the rad cover and was shocked.
Even a cigerette butt. Nice.
If you haven't looked in yours you may want too. There was so much debris in there my shop vac kept clogging. Nasty and not good for airflow.
I got the whole thing back together and she fired right up. Now low coolant light. Sweet.
I'm going to mess with the overflow canister some more, but I may need a new one. I can't get it to float/trigger the sensor to go off so far. That light has got to go. The car runs perfect. I broke the crossover tube from thermo tower to the overflow. I was being super careful and it still broke. I rigged it with 3/8 power steering hose. The old one snapped way to easy and I no longer trust that design...even a new one scares me...
There were numerous hairline cracks in the old thermo tower that was baking off coolant. Getting a picture of them is hard. I will try to add some in a few.
All and all...not too hard. Glad it's done. I'm still looking at how to do the lower rad hose. It looks like it's going to be a bear to replace.

 

Hairline crack in old tower. Maybe 3 altogether.
it was kinda a rusty/chalky color here too.

 

If your tower looks like mine you're way overdue
That's how it looks when it is past it's prime.

 

The two big bolts left and right that stayed in on the water pump.
Those bolts weren't on the new one. Left them alone and it came right out.
President Trump flew over in Air Force One.
He was coming from the direction of Dickinson about 10 miles from my house (badly hit area). I would think he could see everybodies sheetrock, furniture and carpet lining the streets. Maybe he was checking my progress? I waved a greasy hand. He waved back. It means a lot to see that when your home's guts are laying in your front yard.