[Pman1961]

The culprit here is the aftermarket water pump. I went through the same thing as I had an Edelbrock water pump installed on my new KCR motor. I wanted the pump with the pipe thread barbs so I could use a 'U' shaped bypass hose as I've seen on a local Cobra. I have the same aluminum spacer between the intake and thermostat housing for your expansion tank to mount. It seems the location of the barbs on the aftermarket water pump compared to an original water pump (mine from the previous motor came off a 1990 Crown Vic 302 motor) are slightly rotated clockwise in a manner it puts the barb directly under the thermostat housing so a hose could not be installed. I put my original water pump on and plumbed the way the motor was previously. If you want to retain the water pump on your motor then you more than likely will need to replace the expansion tank with one that has a thin mounting plate that goes between the intake and thermostat housing. I believe it is a billet piece. I haven't researched who sells these but I have seen a few on local Cobras. This is what I will be doing in the future because currently I use a 'S' shaped bypass hose that hangs over the belt. Using the other expansion tank and getting rid of the aluminum spacer you can use a 'L' shaped bypass hose. There are other ways to plumb your hoses as seen on Craigs Cobras but you will still have the problem with the barb and thermostat housing. It bites but somethings got to give. I've got pictures to share but can not figure out how to attach.