I can't get the damn thing in for the life of me. I put the pickup in the freezer for a couple days and heated the oil pump with a torch. Still no luck. The fit is so tight... are there any tricks to getting that pickup in.

 

Thats odd I put mine in the freezer for 4 hours and it went right in. lube it with motor oil. Be sure to spot weld the pickup on after it slides in and before installation.

 

Take a line wrench put it over the pickup then take a hammer and tap it, be patient.

 

Sand it down a bit if necessary. Weld it in there. Mine wasn't welded, and it costed me my motor.

 

They make a tool to install them, but I usually use the wrench method since that is all I have. The one I just recently did, took a lot of persuasion. The trick to getting it started is to line it up as straight as possible.

 

I ended up putting the pickup in a vice and tapping the pump onto it with a hammer and a block of metal.

Thanks to those that answered... it seems like putting a spot weld or two is good insurance to have the pickup stay on. I think it's kind of dumb that they made the pickup a press fit on a part that's constantly going to be heat cycling. Oh well...