I want to accomplish this
View attachment 309222
But i think I read somewhere that this direction doesn't cool the head efficiently or something else along those lines?
WHat vehicles with 5.0 engines had standard rotation pumps?
As I always understood it, the two common water pumps on 302's are either the aluminum-bodied ones used mostly on the serpentine-belted vehicles ('86+ Fox, Panther, MN12, F-series etc.) or the iron-bodied ones used mostly on older V-belt motors (like '82 and older). The iron body pumps were the standard-rotation ones that have a different lookin' shaft (longer, more exposed from main pump body) than the aluminum body pumps. Obvious way to tell other than looks is if a magnet sticks to it, it's probably an iron pump and, thus, standard-rotation.
Not 100% sure, but I think the shaft length difference might also relate to the difference in pulley setup. Look at some pics of older 302's and see how far the middle of the pulley on a V-belt setup sticks out compared to a serpentine-belt water pump pulley. But either way, they're pretty different if you lay 'em down side-by-side on a counter.
Go to Autozone and have 'em pull the water pump for, say, an '89 Crown Vic and then an '82 Crown Vic and compare. Far as I know, the pump used on Panther 302's is pretty much a direct crossover to the same ones used in Foxes through most of the 80's (up until Town Cars switched to the 4.6L in '91 and the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis in '92).
As far as water flow being more effective one way or the other ... I dunno if it had anything to do with efficiency, really, so much as just the way the belt needed to be routed on a serpentine application VS a V-belt setup (counter-clockwise VS clockwise). You could (in theory - never tried, myself) physically bolt up the wrong water pump to any 302, but if the pump vanes are turning the wrong direction, you're not going to get any significant coolant flow going on (if any).
FWIW, the fan blade direction changed at the same time too, of course, when they started using reverse-rotation water pumps.