V6 Water Pump replacement

[karlchap]

Your'e right about tedious! I'm almost done, but had to stop because of work. As a newbie without a shop manual, I relied on advice (or lack of it) from the local auto parts store. They rented me the steering pump pulley puller, but failed to mention that I'd need to rent a serpentine belt tool to put the new belt on. That's where I am now in the process. I'll get to it when I get home tomorrow.
One question -is it possible to take off the metal flow diverter pipe/elbow that comes out of the top of the water pump without pulling the water pump? As it turns out, I didn't know about the "O" ring that goes in there until it fell out of some papers AFTER I got it all back together! At original removal it was a devil to get off. (something else not mentioned by the friendly auto parts folks)
Thanks,
Karl