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After installing the oil pump a couple weeks ago, I got to thinking that maybe I hadn’t installed it the best way possible in this particular case. The first time I installed this oil pump, I did it on a engine stand, and used the suggestion from the video from Melling. In the video it shows to install the pump with bolts finger tight and to rotate the crank 1 revolution to center the gears and then torque to spec. Then continue to install the pickup tube.
In my case this time, I couldn’t drop the oil pan far enough to remove the pickup tube, so I had to install the oil pump to the tube first, then rotate the crank and torque the bolts.
I couldn’t help but think after I had the front cover and balancer back on that perhaps the pickup tube would somehow hold the oil pump off center enough when torquing the bolts that it could cause the pump to fail prematurely.
So…..
I pulled the balancer and cover back off to shim the outer gear in the pump like the YouTube video from “That Engine Guy” shows. I like his videos they are very clear and understandable.
What I found when I removed the oil pump cover was that I could not fit a .002 feeler gauge around the outer gear in all areas, so it must have been slightly off.
I loosened the pump bolts and inserted two .002 feeler gauges lengthwise around the outer gear top and bottom curving up and down the sides, (the pic shows the feeler gauges pulled out slightly for the photo, but they were slid in further)and then torqued the pump to spec.
After the bolts were tightened I pulled the feeler gauges out and inserted them back in a couple times and a couple different ways/areas to double check. Then I gave the gears a few pumps of oil and rotated the crank to make sure the gears did not bind. Then again after I put the oil pump cover back on. I used just a drop of blue loctite on the pump cover bolts, torqued those bolts. Then the front engine cover went back on with bolts finger tight, then the harmonic balancer was installed to center the cover, then cover bolts torqued again to spec

It may have been fine the way it was, but doing it this way, in this particular situation seems like a better way. I will say that the inside of the pump and gears did not have any sign of wear, this pump has several thousand miles on it now, so the way Melling showed must be perfectly acceptable as well, if done on a engine stand.
Hopefully tomorrow I can make some more progress towards reassembling some more of the Engine