[b-man]

Originally Posted by Bill Hanlon

Going back to the deep oil pan question, is the height of the removed oil pump and swinging pickup on the pump with the helical gears the same as the M54DS? I'm guessing the old pump and pickup are taller to take advantage of the deeper sump on the pan.

At full droop the furthest out tip of the swinging pickup can almost touch the bottom of the pan, measuring close to 7-7/8" from the base of the pump where it bolts to the block. This measurement pretty closely matches the depth of the pan. The pickup can swing upwards until the flat portion of the pickup nearest to the pump measures 6-1/2" from the pump base.

The pickup on the used Melling M54DS pump shown in the pics sits about 6-1/2 from the pump base. The pickup would probably be about 1/2" from the bottom of a later shallower pan, so we're looking at about 1-1/2" from the bottom of the '59 pan. That large amount of clearance won't do, so in order to use it I'd have to use an aftermarket dropped pickup of some sort.

The pump bodies are exactly the same height on both pumps, roughly 6-1/2" from the center of the pump bottom plate.