I meant, thermostat housing, not water pump. (Sorry.)

I did mine the other day.

I did not remove any hoses.

I unbolted the cable bracket and used a bungee cord to bend them up and out of the way, and unclipped the throttle cable from the bracket and slid it out and laid it out of the way.

I unclipped the heater hoses and bungee'd them out of the way-then removed their plastic hold down piece.

I unplugged the breather hoses and left them attached to the valve cover and rotated them to run straight with the length of the valve cover- now nothing was in the way running in the path of the top of the valve cover.

I did not have to touch the black rail for the fuel injector wiring harness at all.

I popped up any plastic retainers that were seated on top of any valve cover bolt studs.

Then I wiggled the valve cover loose and noticed it was tricky and kept bumping against that ground bolt in the rear driver side area and the top hose looked like it was going to have to come off but I looked closer and kept wiggling until I found the happy spot where it cleared that bolt in the rear and came right out with the right wiggling.

I made sure I doused the whole area near and under the valve cover gasket with brake kleen and compressed air to get rid of all the grime before I unbolted the cover, and after I got the cover off and cleaned the mating surface with scotch brite pads soaked in brake kleen, I blew compressed air into all the bolt holes to clean out any junk that may have fallen in there including metal flakes from the bolt threads but used a rag to catch any debris from reaching the rocker internals.

Did not need any RTV as the gasket has provisions to be held in place by two bolt locations under the rocker cover which makes installation alignment stupid proof.
(Pay attention to how it comes out as one hole is oval, the other round but the gasket is identical either way you flip it other than those two holes.)

I cleaned all of the metal retainer washers and bolts by sloshing them around in a jug filled with some brake kleen and made sure the valve cover was squeeky clean as well as the mating surface.

Bolt torque is 55 inch pounds, but I just tightened them snug as the plastic retainers they give you pretty much allow you to bottom out the bolts to the proper torque without snapping them off.
I would have torqued them but I lent out my inch pound torque wrench years ago and never got it back.

Wish I had one of those pretty yellow, red or black powder coated valve covers to go back on with.

*thermostat housing*

mine is the same as the OPs. Maybe a design change for later years?

Check your manuals instructions before you torque down those bolts.. Mine calls for something like 11lbs torque, so very light... 55lbs would ruin the gasket atleast on mine and possibly yours unless you know thats what it calls for..

FYI: Haynes calls for 55 in. Lbs NOT ft. Lbs for a permanent non RTV gasket.

Right. 55 INCH-LBS.

I replaced mine on my '93... I removed the throttle cable and kickdown as well as the cruise control cables from the TB. I removed that small radiator hose and both CCV hoses. Basically I made sure NOTHING was on top of the VC. I lifted the front, then the back, tilted it to one side then rotated it slightly and slid the whole thing out. When I change it again I will relocate some of the stud bolts to make it easier to place the gasket, I figure two on each side... don't know why ALL of mine are on the passenger side. The firewall bolt was fun though.

Not to be a jerk, just a honest clarification.. should it not be (X)lbs per squ. inch?? Just asking to clarify so I dont misspeak in the future?

No.

Torque = in-lb or ft-lb
Pressure = lb/in^2

<--- Structural Engineer

Mechanical Engineer seconds Structural Engineer's explanation.

we're takin' over this *****!

Dude that bad boy is clean under there.. Mine did not look that good.. I wish I would have taken a picture now..

My thoughts exactly, mine was all black under there.