Technical 1955 Pontiac Chieftan Timing cover Plug?

Hi all. I bought a 1955 Pontiac Chieftan a couple weeks ago. Had not run in years. Stock 287 V8. Drained oil, and changed filter element. Not too sludgy. Good. Element pretty clean too. Installed new oil, poured some water into top of block after removing thermostat. I noticed water pouring out under block. Long story short, I spent all day yesterday replacing the four freeze plugs, motor in car. I don't recommend it and I have the scars to prove it. Rarely nick myself, but...
Filed the points, new plugs, spun starter to get oil pressure, and bingo, fired up. Idles too. I guess cleaning the rat turds from the carb helped. New hoses and OP gauge too.
The only glitch seems to be a coolant leak while running, directly under the front middle of the motor. I'm thinking, OK, water pump next, but I read online that there is a timing cover plug. If there is, it is probably rusted just like the other ones.
Anybody been there? Is there a timing cover plug? And how hard to get to. Thanks, Robert

 

Old 52, Looking at pics of my 316 apart there are no core plugs on the front of the block, just the front cover and pump. The worst ones on my block were under the bell housing. Probably the pump or the hoses. UD

 

141890605871 287 block photo.

 

1955-pontiac-287.440090 Water pump photo.

 

Thanks for the replies. It is the water pump. Pulled the unit out after work. Looks like two kinds. Light duty and heavy duty. The one the parts store found for me is heavy duty. The vanes go from the outer right to the middle. Flea bay has several of the ones with the vanes being 1/2 as long.
Shouldn't hurt reversing the flow I don't imagine. Pontiac changed the flow direction back from reverse flow because of rust issues I read. Mine old one is original.

 

Just for your information;there are two water pumps that will bolt up to the housing but only one is correct.The cast iron impeller should be the correct one for the 55 engine. The pump with the stamped steel impeller is for the 59 and later engines that do not use the reverse cooling. Putting one of those in will usually cause overheating as the vanes are not shaped to push the water in the correct direction.