460 Oil Pump Drive Shaft

[520SC]

I've been busy lately, but I finally found some time to work on my engine swap. Today I removed the oil pan and the oil pump pickup tube from the old 460 engine block. The engine was on an engine stand and positioned upside down. I noticed that the oil pump drive shaft popped out of its hole due to gravity. I grabbed the shaft and positioned it back in the oil pump hole. It fell out again. Okay, so it falls out when the engine is upside down. No problem, unless it fails to slide properly into place when the engine is re-positioned straight up. Problem is, there doesn't appear to be anything directing it straight toward the hole (i.e., it seems like with the engine upright, the oil pump drive shaft could fall downward but miss the hole such that it does not engage the oil pump). Is that possible? Must I bolt the oil pan to the new engine with the engine sitting upright to ensure that the drive shaft never becomes disengaged from the oil pump?

[blykins]

Oil pump shafts should have a lock washer near the top of them. In a normal situation, you install the shaft from the bottom and the washer is larger than the hole in the block where the distributor goes through. This keeps the shaft from coming out when you pull the distributor out.

You are correct that you will have to be very ginger with it and it will probably be a little difficult to install it from the top once the engine is upright. Not impossible, but much harder.

[520SC]

Thanks. Now that I have the oil pan removed I'll be able to check that the bottom of that shaft will mate with the oil pump no matter what I do from above. I'll repeatedly install/remove the distributor to verify that that the drive shaft can be seated properly. I'll repeatedly install/remove the oil pump priming tool to verify that that the drive shaft can be seated properly. After a successful "set of experiments", I'll be ready to transfer that oil pump to the new engine with confidence.

Just query on "Ford 460 oil pump drive shaft". The horror stories you'll find are mind boggling.

[520SC]

When I checked the oil pump installation in the old engine yesterday, I found that the oil pump drive shaft was installed with the lock washer on the oil pump side, as opposed to the distributor gear side. When I watch YouTube videos on oil pump installations for 302s and 351s, the washer is always installed on the distributor gear side.

Huhhhhh.....there's always something to confuse me at every step.

[blykins]

That is correct. Washer goes on dist end.