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I may sometimes use copper grease as an anti sieze agent. Grease used to be sometimes used to help seal new head gaskets. Soap or clay based grease I can't say. I guess copper grease can act as a sealant on threads. I can't recall if any water pump bolts go through to coolant. Your leak is more component jointing than out threads?

That is the advantage to those awful 6054 sealed beams (My XT6, Celica, 4Runner, and Econoline all use the same ones), they almost never burn out.

I'd go with the gasket + thin coat of sealant. IF you found some super strong bolts, that could deform the pump or gasket enough to seal dry, they would strip out the threads in the aluminum first.

00 OBS, Sweet!

Fluid Film is an Amazing product. I saw a friends Ram pickup that he had sprayed the frame and suspension at the front wheels with it months before and it looked new and shinny. I first used it on the rollers and hinges on the big garage door where I used to work. No more squeaks. I had to change rear brake shoes on our 97. It was late when I started. I hit one of the drums about 6 times with my 3 lb. hammer and it did not budge. I decided to work on it in the morning. I sprayed only a little bit of Fluid Film on top of the center hole of both drums and worked it around with the tube on the spray can. It bubbles up like crazy and will splatter if you push the button down hard. The next morning I got my hammer. Like most people, when I want to hit something really hard with a hammer, I put the head where I want to hit and tap then draw back for a big swing. Well, when I tapped the drum, it moved. I removed it by hand. That stuff actually has a good odor too, unlike some of the penetrating oils. After seeing GDs posted Videos I will be getting more of it.