318 Poly Oil Pump pickup tube interchange
Chrisbarber0904
Posted 2020-02-05 11:08 PM (#593863)
Subject: 318 Poly Oil Pump pickup tube interchange


Regular

Posts: 96
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Location: Meridian, MS
I’m building my first ‘61 318 poly engine and I am having a hard time finding a replacement oil pump pickup tube. If I don’t have to, I’d rather not reuse the original - I ordered a Melling 72-S2 oil pump pickup tube (I believe this is for a 318LA block) and installed it on the new oil pump, bolted the oil pump to the rear cap, laid the oil pan gaskets on the block, and placed the oil pan on top of the gaskets to simulate how it would be if installed. I rotated the crank around and it seems clear just fine and the oil pan seemed to line up with the bolt holes on the block just fine. Has anyone tried this before? The only potential issue (if it’s an issue at all) seemed to be that the strainer seemed to sit far foward in the sump(center sump)(may be an issue if going up a hill?). Any thoughts/technical advice on oil pump pickup tube interchange/options?
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Mopar1
Posted 2020-02-07 11:23 AM (#593915 - in reply to #593863)
Subject: Re: 318 Poly Oil Pump pickup tube interchange



Expert

Posts: 3027
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Location: N.W. Fla.
If the pick up is about 1/2" off the pan & nothing is interfering you should be good. A problem going up hill vs a problem going down hill in the other location? The some-what dated Tex Smith Hemi book says there's no available replacements for the center sump A Poly pan pick ups & they cleaned and reused the OEM on a build in the book.
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57chizler
Posted 2020-02-07 12:30 PM (#593918 - in reply to #593863)
Subject: RE: 318 Poly Oil Pump pickup tube interchange



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Location: NorCal
If the original strainer is mostly OK and just caked with crud, soak it in a flammable liquid and set it afire. "Burning out" carboned-up parts is an old trick that works well, just wash out the ash after burning.
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Mopar1
Posted 2020-02-08 2:13 PM (#593952 - in reply to #593918)
Subject: RE: 318 Poly Oil Pump pickup tube interchange



Expert

Posts: 3027
2000100025
Location: N.W. Fla.
57chizler - 2020-02-07 11:30 AM

If the original strainer is mostly OK and just caked with crud, soak it in a flammable liquid and set it afire. "Burning out" carboned-up parts is an old trick that works well, just wash out the ash after burning.
Or oven cleaner.
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Chrisbarber0904
Posted 2020-02-10 10:42 AM (#594017 - in reply to #593863)
Subject: Re: 318 Poly Oil Pump pickup tube interchange


Regular

Posts: 96
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Location: Meridian, MS
Thank ya’ll for the advice— I didn’t want to use the original pickup tube but it looks like I may have to if there’s no readily available replacements. What I am going to try first though is to cut down the Melling pickup tube by about 2 1/2” then have it re-threaded and see if it works. I’ll take pictures and post my progress on here as I go. I don’t know if anyone has tried this before but if it’s something that will help everyone with building their 318s then I will be all worth it!
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Chrisbarber0904
Posted 2020-02-17 1:03 AM (#594391 - in reply to #593863)
Subject: RE: 318 Poly Oil Pump pickup tube interchange


Regular

Posts: 96
252525
Location: Meridian, MS

Well I did it, I got the pickup tube installed. It went pretty easy, after some fitting and measuring I determined that I need to cut 2 1/2" off of the Melling 72-S2 pickup tube. I took the tube to a local machine shop and they were able to cut it down and rethread it. I put it on the pump, rotated the crank over and it cleared fine. I then leveled the block on the motor stand then leveled the strainer and measured from the highest point on the strainer to the bottom of the block - 7 1/4". The oil pan is 7 1/2" at it tallest point on the sump plus approximately 1/8" for the gaskets left me with about 3/8" clearance on the strainer. Once I saw all that was good, I scribed the location of the pickup tube on the pump body, disassembled the oil pump, MIG welded the tube to the pump body, blew everything out with compressed air, then reassembled the oil pump, installed it on the rear cap and torque it down.

Melling 72-S2 with shipping = $31.34

Machine Shop Work = $10.00

Total Investment = $41.34

Supposing it works fine, I'd say I did alright. I haven't finished assembling the engine yet so if anyone sees where I may be going wrong, please don't hesitate to let me know. If not, I hope this information is useful to anyone building a 318 Poly!



Edited by Chrisbarber0904 2020-02-17 1:06 AM




(Oil Pump Pickup Tube.jpg)



(Oil Pump Pickup Tube 1.jpg)



(Oil Pan.jpg)



Attachments
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Attachments Oil Pump Pickup Tube.jpg (101KB - 180 downloads)
Attachments Oil Pump Pickup Tube 1.jpg (104KB - 177 downloads)
Attachments Oil Pan.jpg (97KB - 166 downloads)
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