I got my 11/16" dia freeze plugs and finished the job. I did as you said with the PS side and plugged the hole and put the bracket back as the PS pump and the Altenator bolt to it.




Anyone who is running one of these air pump systems needs to check for exhaust leaks as the air bracket is only stopped from leaking by a paper gasket and mine just fell to pieces after being in there 42 years. There is lots of eveidence of an exhaust leaks on both sides as you can see in the pictures. And we all know how much an exhaust leak hurts performance!