Lloyd E. Sponenburgh writes:

However, unless there's an ell just downwind of the pump, why not whack
off the pipe shorter than necesary, and apply a "repair union" to join
the main line to the nipple section.

Because I had only 4 inches of room to put a 3.5" long union between a tee
shoulder and the female coupling on the pump strainer basket. The old
system had no union on the suction side of the pump, so you had to
disassemble the pump (ugh!) to unscrew the threaded fitting.

Two pumps and a filter are all housed in an underground vault (I know, I
know, this was madness, but not of my origination). You can see an old
photo here, with the strainer basket near the bottom of the photo:

http://www.truetex.com/protect/poolctrl3.jpg

I'm actually thinking I should have checked Lowe's since they have a
selection of Sch 80 PVC bits. But too late, I bought a 2" threader and
made my own PVC nipple. It seemed to work out fine.