Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Oil pump tube: JB weld or solder?

I pulled the pan off my 292 just to check things out while it is in between cars. I thought it had sucked some air a time or two and sure enough, there was a clean 1/2" between the pickup and the pan bottom. This is a Nova pan, bumped out at the back to clear the #6 counterweights.

So, I just gave the pump tube a tug, to see how much I could pull it down. It started to rotate in the pump! Must not have been very tight all these years in the other car.

I can try to hammer it in to see if it tightens up but wondered, short of tack welding, are some JB weld or solder good options to make sure the tube stays in place? Other ideas?

I wouldn't recommend any other method than welding(TIG)the pickup tube in place. Once you epoxy or add some kind of compound like that to the inside of the pump cavity, it can always potentially break down or chip and flake off and enter into the oil stream, and the filter might not catch all of it. I wouldn't even consider that alternative as a last resort.

I would take the relief spring out if you are going to weld it.

MBHD

X2 - keep the heat down, remove everything.
I'd use silver solder.
You'll have to check the gear end-play and surfaces for parallel. The relief valve must move freely with no effort.

Based on a recommendation I read here earlier, I installed mine using Loctite red... Does the above discussion suggest that I'd be wise to remove and weld in place?

Im sure its been done before by someone thinking they were successful at having done it. You are just introducing an element into the equation that can or could have catastrophic consequences should it break loose and enter into the oiling system. And im not saying that in the right circumstances, that someone that takes care and doesn't apply excessive amounts of some kind of sealer will have any problems. But once you insert the pickup tube into the body of the pump, you cant really tell if extra has oozed out(internally) and can be in direct contact with the oil as if flows through the pump and be a potential problem....

In "The Book" Leo says to use epoxy and there is no need to braze or weld. Page 38

All,
Thanks for the ideas so far, not definitive it seems. Maybe I can get away with solder or red loctite since it was in there all this time (20 years) without anything.

Beater, I read pg38 too, says "because of this brace, it is not necessary to braze, weld, ...." But Leo is referring to the 292 setup. With the Nova oil pan, the brace to the #5 main bolt is not there, the pump tube is hanging out in the breeze by itself. This is one area I wish Chevy had taken a cue from Ford, with a bolt-on oil pickup.

The shortblock looks like a just-rebuilt 292, it is 30-over but can still see the crosshatches, everything very clean. But the Nova oil pan had some burnt crust of oil on it, perhaps the old Nova engine expired or was mistreated.

I found some interesting parts rattling around in the oil pan - gear teeth, it looks like (cam or oil/dist gear maybe?) and a core-style plug, withi the crap beat out of it but still clearly says 9/16 on one side. I am guessing the oil pump spring plug? Must be from the previous oil pump since the current one is fine and looks new from the outside. Then a few other disintegrated metal parts. A mystery to see these in a rebuilt shortblock, all I can guess is they were from the previous Nova engine, left in the pan, and somebody threw it back together in a hurry - shoved the Nova oil tube into the 292 pump, put the dirty Nova pan back on with the loose metal in there, and let er run.

I will take a closer look, hope not to find any broken parts.
Still undecided on the pump tube.

Extra parts in the pan is always a concern. I couldn't budge the pickup on my 153. I guess some are tighter than others. If you do weld it just a spot would do. I'd expand the tube and get it as tight as I could and still get it in the pump and run it. Beater

Since you also mentioned this, I would be equally concerned that this pickup tube doesn't have a support brace.

The 4 cyl has a brace. Don't all the 6s? If you are going to weld then weld a brace on the tube.