Upper hose is nice and firm. I replaced the lower hose today. The old hose had the spring inside. The new hose is a "flex hose" and the spring is built into the hose itself.

I plan to keep all the parts due to the numbers matching aspect. Even though the current set-up isn't numbers matching I can always put it back. I have 5 water pumps for the car... I guess I'll have 6 when the electric pump gets here.

I just want to be able to drive the car. It is a beautiful car and I love driving it. I'd love to be able to put the top down and drive it across the country.