Oil pump gaskets

[Boiler Ben]

Ok, this is probably a dumb question, but I’m confused.  My new oil pump came with 2 gaskets and neither lines up perfectly and could use some trimming to improve the fit.  But one is black and the other looks like cork.  Which one goes where?

[My427stang]

Usually one has a little tab, that goes on the pickup tube

The other goes on the block at the pump.

I am not sure I every tried, but they should not be interchangeable, the block one has more of an egg shaped hole

[Boiler Ben]

Ok, the more I look at this, the black paper one is a better fit for the side that goes to the block.  The cork one fits the pickup side OK but does not cover any part of the relief valve.  As long as the pickup flange covers the relief valve slightly, is it OK if the gasket doesn’t?

[My427stang]

Yes, I generally do not see cork ones in the kit, but as long as your bolt holes line up and it seals the surface it should be fine.

I like a little Loctite on both bolts, not much

[blykins]

What gasket kit did you buy?  I have never seen a cork gasket on either pump or pickup and I wouldn’t want one.

[Rory428]

Like Brent said, I have never seen a FE gasket kit that had anything but thin paper gaskets for both the oil pump to block, and oil pickup tube to oil pump gaskets. The pickup gasket doesn`t need to cover the bypass plug, as the pickup tube flange partially covers that plug, so it isn`t going anywhere.

[Boiler Ben]

So it’s just a Melling HV pump from Summit and it came with the gaskets.  One is black paper.  The other is thin and light brown.  I called it cork, but maybe it’s something else.  It’s not thick or cushiony, pretty thin.

[My427stang]

That's normal, sometimes both black, but have seen the lighter color too