There’s also a trick to installing the oil pump on the LS-series engines. Because the pump slides over the nose of the crankshaft and also bolts to the block, it’s important that the pump is centered on the crankshaft snout. This prevents binding the oil pump to the crank. If the pump is not centered, it will create a tight spot that you can feel as the crank is rotated in the block. If left that way, it could damage the pump and put metal filings into the engine that’s definitely not cool. The official procedure is to disassemble the oil pump and use a pair of 0.002-inch-thick feeler gauges to rotate between the oil pump body and the oil pump drive that slides over the crank snout. Use two bolts to hold the body lightly in place while you slide the feeler gauges around the entire pump drive. Then install the pump on the engine and tighten all the bolts to 18 ft-lb. Ken Duttweiler’s trick is to slide the assembled pump in place with all the fasteners lightly torqued. He then rotates the engine over several times, allowing the pump to align itself. Then he torques the bolts—and you’re ready to go. We tried this and then measured the result and got the magical 0.002-inch clearance without all the hassle.