[Goatman]

Before this gets out of hand............

I think the point everyone here is trying to make/trying to teach everyone here is that you have to check all your parts as no manufacturing process or person is perfect all the time. Unfortunately, with some parts, its a "hit or miss" thing. Is it a royal pain in the ass to do it? We all know that answer to that one. Is it worth it? If you get the parts that Ken claims he used to get, then you know the answer to that too. Me, personally, I'll be buying a Titan pump for my next motor, and even at the rediculous prices they're getting for those things, I'm checking it, just to be sure.

A for increased volume through a pickup tube, I'm no genious, but it seems to me, that if I ported my intake and left my heads and exhaust stock, there would be a slight increase in horsepower, just because the intake didn't flow as well as the heads from the factory. Other than that, my engine would only be as strong as my weakest part. If my heads and exhaust weren't ported/modified, than the "gain" from porting my intake would be small. Perhaps insubstantial, but, we're not talking about psi with an intake. Any increase in oil that you can give the pump gears would seem to me to be a good idea. If there is no difference in the gear ratios, then the increased pickup tube diameter is a small improvement, but an important one.