Have you been able to locate one of these pickup tubes ?
Yes.
I would definitely run the M-45 pump and the tub pickup, and fabricate a custom line from the pickup to the pump. The M-45 gears are MUCH taller and flow more volume than the earlier pump.
Jerry
Is there a benefit to the tub type over the later disk type pickup? It'll be more work to make it fit at the correct depth so I don't really want to go down that road unless there's a benefit. Plus the 45-S2 is $3.99 so trying it out is a no brainer. We could always thread an extension on if needed.
The pickups are generally set up for a particular pan. The best example I can give is the passenger cars. 55-57 pickup is slightly different then a 58, and the 59-63 is different then the 55-57 and 58 pickups. So the question is how positive are you that your block is a 56 production block? Any chance its a 54 early 55 style block cast in 56 as a service replacement? Any idea of what pan you are using? The 54-early 55 pans are slightly different then the later pans, and I am not sure of all of the variations of truck pans, if there are variations, from late 55 through 63.
No clue. lol. The numbers show it to be a '56 from a 6400. The pan came with the engine, which was still painted it's original yellow color, and has a variation in its side that my '54 261 did not have. From what I've seen the '58 pan matches this variation (an angle in the mounting surface only) which I assume was intended to keep people from mixing up pans with no other obvious differences.
Additionally, I've found nothing available from any vendor that is listed as fitting '56 specifically, just the '58, and we already know the M-45 pump fits both the Melling pickup and my block. In fact, I've found more info suggesting the 55-57 is the same and photographic comparisons that suggest the '58 pickup is similar to the '55-57 pickup. I can upload and post links to my comparison pics if anyone is interested.
Worst case, the 45-S2 pickup for the '58 261 can be easily manipulated to get to the correct depth.
