I'm calling this the second cylinder bank, from the front:





And the third:





And a broader zoom:




Note that where the flash is reflecting on that bearing cap - that's the hole where the pickup tube bolts in. I couldn't get a picture of the whole pickup tube and everything because unless you can slide in the oil pan from the back of the engine (need the transmission removed), you have no way of installing the pickup tube without the oil pan in place - both have to be there at the same time.


And a close-in zoom of the fourth (rear-most) cylinder bank:





And of course the bolt hole for the pickup tube can be seen in this pic as well.

 

Finally, the old oil pump is off:





I don't have any more pics right now, but what I did next is mount the new oil pump, the pickup tube screwed in, and oil pan bolts tightened. When torquing those oil pan bolts, I recommend the use of as much 1/4" socketry as possible. My 3/8s were just too big to get in there with a torque wrench at all of the angles necessary to torque those bolts. I recommend a U-joint adapter (allows your sockets to swivel around), and as many 1/4" extensions as you can find. After working on this for 12 solid hours, I really didn't want to do any more work, but I ended up putting in the motor mount bolts while I had the shop crane out there. I figured if the bolts didn't go in, I needed to rectify that now, rather than lugging the crane back in the future. As expected, the bolts threaded right up.

And so, next on my to-do list is replace the bolts on the cam sprockets, put some thread-lock on them as was previously advised, put the timing chains on, and button up the timing cover and valve covers. I figure I should be able to do all of that, plus torque the motor mounts, attach the exhausts, and the tranny mount in a few hours with the pace I work. The oil filter-to-block adapter needs to be reinstalled, I've got a new gasket too. The only thing left to do in order to be able to turn it over and see oil pressure, is to fix a cabling problem in one of the harnesses that broke a couple of the wires that feed the driver's instrumentation/ignition. I'm glad there's now some light at the end of the tunnel.

 

A quick update.. I've got about another day and a half into this. You're probably asking yourself what exactly it took me a day and a half to do.. my task list seemed pretty simple, right? As luck would have it, I threw out my shoulder something terrible, heaving that engine lift up a flight of stairs the last time I worked on this project. I really should have removed the arm and the ram to lighten it up. So I left this project sitting for 2 solid weeks, and at about the 2.5 week mark, I decided to bolt up the oil filter-to-block adapter with the new gasket. Yesterday I made it my task to finish off the timing components, and I discovered a previously un-noticed error. To top it all off, I made another dumb mistake today. I've already recovered from the first, but the second will set me back a few days. More updates and pics soon!

 

In the words of Jim Carey, ITS ALIIIIIIIIIIVE! The engine is completely put back together, and has been run on the road for 20 solid minutes. Oil pressure is solid, cooling is solid. The only reason it's taken me this long to finish it off, is because of work and the holidays, and because the "loud top-end tick" wasn't resolved simply by changing the timing components. I ended up replacing all 8 of the lash adjusters on the passenger side of the engine. Only three actually met the criteria for replacement (which is more than 1/16th-inch of movement in the hydraulic lash adjuster, to necessitate replacement).

I will post another update and the full play-by-play, including pictures, in the coming days. Thanks again to all who contributed your expertise.