56 Corvette oil pump pickup

[John C.]

Re: 56 Corvette oil pump pickup

John,
Your '56 oil pump and pick up looks correct to me. Chevrolet must have made a million since they were used on all 265 (8 cyl) in 1956. There was a slight change to the '57 pick up so both years would probably not look the same. I might have the blueprint somewhere.

Lynn,
Call Crain cam 866-388-5120 and tell them you are building a '55 and they will point you in the right direction. As you are probably aware the '55 engine requires special attention to the cam configuration. Good Luck

Cool, thank you David!

John

[John C.]

Re: 56 Corvette oil pump pickup

John------


I'm very confident now the pick-up is original. Years ago I was led to believe that the 1955-57 pick-ups were "articulating" (i.e. some sort of "flexible joint" between the tube and screen sections). However, that's obviously not the case. There were actually two pick-ups used over the 1955-57 period. The first was GM #3836982 which was used from 1955 through some or all of 1957. The second was GM #3837159 which was probably used for later 1957. The 3836982 was discontinued from SERVICE in August, 1957 and replaced by the 3837159. The 3837159 was discontinued in August, 1960 and replaced by GM #3754942 which was finally discontinued without supercession in the last few years. However, an identical pick-up is available from Melling and Sealed Power as described above. While the pick-up I pictured above is a Sealed Power version, I have NOS examples of the 3754942 and I have compared them carefully. They are absolutely identical.

Good stuff Joe, thank you!

John

[John C.]

Re: 56 Corvette oil pump pickup

John------


According to GM the same cam, GM #3711354, was used for both 1955 and 1956 Corvette applications. I have no direct experience with these applications so I can't say one way or the other. In any event, I can say that if the 3711354 was not originally used for 1955, it was the cam which GM specified to SERVICE 1955 applications. It was discontinued without supercession in May, 1975.

Hmmm, interesting, thanks again Joe!

John

[John C.]

Re: 56 Corvette oil pump pickup

Here is a photo of my '56 Chevy passenger car motor. The pump/pickup is a replacement part, but the configuration is identical. Note the difference in the pickup sheet metal construction.

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The next photo is a painting of Deborah Kerr....I first saw her in 1957 at a drive-in with my mom...the movie was Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison and I fell in love with her. I just watched An Affair to Remember for the first time last night....same result! Sorry....lost my head!

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[Lynn L.]

Re: 56 Corvette oil pump pickup

Thanks for all the help, Lynn

[Joe L.]

Re: 56 Corvette oil pump pickup

Here are photos of an NOS GM #3743573 [not for sale]. This pick-up was used ONLY for 1958 Corvettes and 1958 6-series trucks.



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