Not critical at all...was a good tip and lead me to stockish looking creative solution.
Got caught up on yardwork and took a nice vacation out in Rocky Mountain National Park, but now its back to work on this project!
Yesterday I removed the ac compressor and alternator to see if I could pinpoint the source of the coolant leak. Doh! It wasn't difficult to find at all! The water pump housing was cracked:
I remembered that when I installed the housing, the bottom stud seemed to put a lot of pressure on the housing a couple turns before it was actually clamped down. When I went to install the new one, I left the bottom stud loose and tightened the 3 top bolts and I could see there was about a 1/4 inch gap between the housing and the block. No wonder the other one cracked. This is the second block I've seen this problem on. Luckily, it's as simple as adding 2 flat washers as spacers.
It's all buttoned back up now. Next I have to do a little more clean up of the wiring in the engine bay and assemble the front end parts (fender, hood, headlights/blinkers, and bumper), and then button up a few things inside under the dash and the car will be ready for the first test drive!