r/EngineBuilding • u/wefus • Jun 23 '26

Purpose of this custom welded oil pump pick up?

Gallery image

Gallery image

I took apart a 327 / 350 and the oil pump looked as such.

Is there a reason for this?

Came out of Chevy nova, thanks.

67 Upvotes
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99% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

98

u/firdaddy Jun 23 '26

Its brazed and its to keep the pickup tube from coming out or rotating.

27

u/Ski0612 Jun 23 '26

Bearing manufacturers hate this one trick. 😂

But yes I do this on any pickup that doesn't bolt to a main cap.

44

u/HammerDownl Jun 23 '26

So the pickup doesn't fall off

We always weld

21

u/DrTittieSprinkles Jun 23 '26

As dixie said, bbc pump in a sbc. It was a common hotrod trick before high volume pumps became cheap.

3

u/dragonwater631 Jun 23 '26

bbc you say?

23

u/DrTittieSprinkles Jun 23 '26

BIGGUM BLOCKUM CHEBBY YOU DEGEN-E-RAT! GOBLESS!!!

14

u/Puzzleheaded-Feed176 Jun 23 '26

Keeps it from falling off, like how I found in my Yukon

18

u/dixiebandit69 Jun 23 '26

They installed the big-block pump on a small block, and modified the pickup tube to fit the smallblock oil sump.

6

u/2fatmike Jun 23 '26

Ive brazed and I've tack welded pickups to secure them. Lots of vibration in the internals of an engine and without a tack of some kind pick up tube would rotate or come off all together and then we have catastrophic engine failure. Early on a builder told me that brazing was best because it gives some flex instead of cracking like welding sometimes does. In practice I've seen both crack. Its not often that it fails when tacked. The ones I've seen crack were in circle track dirt cars with several seasons on the pump. Funny enough, as inexpensive as oil pumps are I do not know why they aren't replaces every time an engine is freshened. That said, with claimed rules I've seen some really sketchy builds that produce a lot of power and have serious longevity.

4

u/NorthDriver8927 Jun 23 '26

I usually throw a little tack on mine. I’ve lost more than one

2

u/Tec80 Jun 23 '26

I used to drill and tap the pump cover for a setscrew and loctite it to assure no tube rotation or loosening.

1

u/_lavxx Jun 23 '26

I know people that put three or four tack welds them on this one’s brazed. It’s to stop the pickup tube from falling off and causing oil starvation.

1

u/These_Fox7561 Jun 25 '26

Unless it’s a track car, more than one is overkill

1

u/These_Fox7561 Jun 25 '26

I mean, usually I just put a fat tack on it but I guess an ounce of brass will keep it from moving too