I have a pic of what I am working with but my home computer died a week ago & I'm on a borrowed office computer & I ain't figured how to upload pics onto it so I can post em but I'll get some help & post em later

Robert,

Ive raced for several years and have never done anymore than screw the pickup in on any of my BB motors leaving an 1/8th inch space I might add.
My 66 dart consistently went into the low 9's.
If it makes you feel more secure you can put a tack weld on it.
If your not romping at the track 450 times a season don't worry about it.

Just the advice of a lowly BSEE!

It's a high rpm circle track 360. when you see the pic I am committed to where I am at. I am going to set the depth (probable 1/8") & weld it then reinstall the screen into the circular slit & tamp it down to crimp it in place. Thank you for (most ) of the replies. I'd like to weld 3 or 4 nuts of the right thickness on the bottom of the pickup to set the clearance exactly where I want it plus have everything supported.

WoW!

You might have mentioned the circle track part.
I would think welding would be mandatory on your pictured set up.
Did you make a pan?
I wounder if you might have an issue with Cavitation because of the extreme 90's?
Perhaps Challenger1 has a great idea for your application.
Go drysump.
I hope it works out for you

I don't know anything about circle track 360s. Do they use pipe fittings like that?

They seem awfully heavy and weak, especially that closed nipple.

You can run a external belt driven pump with a wet sump pan, that what I did with a 572 BBC I used to run. It broke pickups off, it broke entire oil pumps off even with the brace installed. Tire shake in a dragster is brutal. I can't imagine a dirt track is any smoother?

the main cause for oil pump fractures is due to solid motor mounts . [ you are using solids yes?] as far as the pick up tube goes, a thin wall tube would be much better and easier to support . I would braze a thin wall pickup to the pump and scrap the heavy wall pipe pictured . install the pump and the correct pickup so the pickup is slightly " above " the pan height , then with a 1/4" shim placed completely across the screen section of the pickup ,place the pan onto the engine and bolt it down . now remove the pan and braze the pickup and your clearance is set exactly where you want it. .............from one circle track racer to another !!

Yeah I'm not real comfortable with that thick wall stuff either. If you have a brand/part # for some thin wall material I'm all ears! The pump is tapped for 1/2 NPT so it'd have to work with that size

OMG - my concerns re vibration just quadrupled. You need to build this using 1/2 inch flex copper brazed to a pickup on one end, and a compression fitting to a male adapter on the other end. If rug up a bracket of some kind to the pump body to lock the compression fitting down and provide support tool.

Astrobuf

The pump is tapped for 1/2 pipe. I do not want to neck it down. I'm using a 392 pan which is a common "center" sump but more toward the front. I do have a std vol pump/matching pickup (for that pan) but I want (need) the hi vol pump tapped for 1/2 along with the other oiling mods. I will see what Steffs has. Thank you!