I was lying in bed, thinking of the long project I had almost finished replacing the cracked 4.3 enging in my OMC outdrive w/ a new long block when something occured to me. There is a retainer the holds the oil pump shaft together at the bottome of the engine, it is a little plastic cylinder that holds the two shafts together. There is a similar connection at the distributor to oil pump shaft conection. I did not see a retainer on this part of the shaft during disassembly so I installed the distributor w/o it. But I got to thinking, there MAY be enough room for those the shafts to seperate, I can't recall. So a question for you chevy guys- does the distributor to oil pump shaft connection require a retainer or do they fit together in such a way that once they seat they can't come apart unless the distrbutor is removed? Thanks a bucnch for any response!
