Oh, and I recommend you take out the coolant reservoir as well. Once you have all these pieces removed you can EASILY get to the WP from the top. And with the PS pump removed, the upper radiator hose connection to the WP becomes visible. Be careful though, the clamp that holds that hose to the WP is held on with (I don't know what it'd techincally called) a clamp that you have to squeeze to loosen. It takes a lot of effort and in my case, two sets of hands...
excuse me sir, but the Water pump on the pre98 Zetec is different than it is on the post 98 Zetec, on the pre98 you have to get to the timing belt, on the post 98 its as simple as removing the serpentine belt and coolant container and 3 bolts. Now as for the Crankshaft damper... I dont really know what you are refering too, is it the Idler pulley, or the Tensioner pulley?
let me give you a tutorial... coax a friend with a 6 pack of beer to lend you a hand on this project, it will require two sets of hands.
1) raise car up, support on jack stand
2) remove passenger side wheel
3) Remove lower splash shield (couple of bolts and plastic push bolts)
4) use jack and block of wood, jack up motor to relieve stress off the motor mount
5) Unbolt coolant tank and push aside, make sure to drain it as not to spill coolant everywhere, if you want.
6) unbolt engine mount, remove and set aside (MAKE SURE MOTOR IS SECURELY SUPPORTED BY JACK!!!!)
7) At this time use the space to loosen the bolts on the water pump pulley
8) I suggest replacing the serpentine belt if its starting to show age, it will make the job easier and make it so you dont have to go down to the same spot a few months later when you have a slipping serpentine belt. Also chances are your Serpentine belt tensioner is bad, which wont allow you to give the serpentine belt very much slack when trying to remove it. You are best off cutting the belt, getting a new belt and while at it, replacing the serpentine belt tensioner, the tensioner is only about $35 and the belt should be like $15.
9) Cut serpentine belt off
10) remove Water pump pulley, there will be 3 bolts holding the water pump in place, I believe they were 10 mm bolts and should be fairly easy to remove.
11) with the bolts off the water pump, it MIGHT take a little nudge to get it to slide out, you can just use a screw driver to do walk it out.
12) replace water pump then do the steps backwards.
When replacing the serpentine belt, I found that when someone would hold the tensioner at its loosest point, it was easiest to get the belt on with the aid of a screw driver slipping it last onto the power steering pump.
any more questions, feel free to ask.
Now that I have to take off the pulley might as well pull the water pump through there.