Belt driven vacuum pump

What do I need to know and where do I get it. New or used?

 

STAR Machine Sportsman pump is a VERY proven unit that wont break the bank

 

I like the Moroso unit I have but the down side is they do not make the brackets for it to be bolt-on. You will have to do some fabricating no matter the system you choose.

What all do you have on the front of your engine ?

 

Look to spend $800.00 to $1300.00 on a set up.

 

Consider converting a smog pump, you should even be able to use factory brackets.

If you are building an engine with low tension rings a smog pump can be made to remove engine pressure so the low tension rings will seal.

That is if you can find one, most people have removed them and threw them away. GL



Derek

 

Will be Water pump(moroso belt driven), crank pully and a Alt.

 

I am going this route. Turns out a guy in the Drag Week facebook group owns a large junkyard (or just a pile of cars from the 60's-80's?) and he is sending me 3 mid-70's to late-80's GM smog pumps for just the cost of the flat rate boxes for me to try out as a vacuum pump. The carbon seals hate oil, but based on the slim amount of information available on why oil destroys them, it "appears" to me that the oil cooks onto the casing and the crud physically breaks the carbon seals rather than chip away. But it could also be the oil residue simply softens or absorbs into the carbon seals and causes them to fall apart. I don't fully know, but the aftermarket ones used for vacuum pumps replace the seals with neoprene or such to make them live, and even then they eventually need a rebuild, which is part of the reason why I think it's oil crude building up in the case.

I'm going to experiment with two things to gain longevity, I'm going to disassemble one and ensure it's clean inside then coat the seals with paint. I'm leaning towards acrylic. And two have the pump pull through an oil/air separator so a very minimal amount of oil makes it to the pump itself. Until one fails under operation for me to disassemble (assuming one fails on me) I won't know for sure the cause of seal failure.

Currently I'm running crankcase vacuum on both my Firebird and Skylark off manifold vacuum, pulling through an oil/air separator. I'll just move the connection from the manifold to the pump when I install the pump. The Firebird pulls the crankcase down to essentially intake manifold pressure and via check valve can hang on to vacuum in the crankcase for 15 seconds or so after shut down, and 5 or so seconds of WOT. After several months of running, the intake line is not oil soaked, so the oil/air separator seems to be doing a good job. The Skylark seems to have a leak in the system capping vacuum pulled to around 5inHg. I tried finding the leak last night, but had no luck. My Firebird behaved the same way until I found the leak an sealed it appropriately, which is the hardest part about running a crank case vacuum. You want it sealed, otherwise you are pulling dirt into the engine from somewhere.

Unless of course you just want a vacuum pump for the power brakes or vacuum accessories, then the Cadillac HT4100 has a small belt driven pump on it for just those things.

 

The late model electric GM egr pumps are popular but there is a rather long thread on the Bullet bout this topic and it was determined from what I read that anything other than a sure enough Vac pump is no more efficient than header evac setup. Peterson has a Buick specific kit im.pretty sure him and Steve worked on it together if im not mistaken. Friend of mine ran a 4th gen pump on his street car for a bout 2 weeks , another lasted 3months are so they pulled around 8in I believe

 

I ruined two of them on my Firebird, but I was having it pull from the crankcase directly and they essentially collected oil and eventually got hot and quit working. After the second one quit I made the oil/air separator and pulled from the manifold. Had a third electric pump, I would have tried the electric pump pulling through the oil/air separator.

 

I've used several GZ motorsports pumps on my procharged blue oval smallblocks with good success in the past.Good customer service also.

 

Just out of curiosity why do you think you need one. I used them to evac the crank case to stop the oil leaks under 15lbs of boost and up and on motors with big nitrous. The boost used to pressurize the crank case.

 

That is why I also installed mine. It would blow oil out of almost all the gaskets because the boost would fill the entire engine.

Steve Reynolds made a very good looking all-aluminum drive I wish I could use. if all I was driving was an alternator and a vacuum pump, it what I would use.

It is not very long so it will not put that much pressure on the crank and bearings.

If I can find a picture of it, I will post it.

 

nice piece. My friend Dave was helpful when we built a bracket to line up the pulleys he machined a little plastic block. It fit into the serpentine belt groove with a cheap lazer pointer that attached with a rubber band around the pulley. It helped align the belt up perfectly with the rest of the pulleys.

 

The build Im working on may get sprayed. I know it will be good for another 20 HP + it will stop any oil leaks. I have an electric in the trunk but its not designed for this application and its freaking LOUD. It will pull nearly -10Hg.

 

Here is the piece SRE did for me installed. Works great. Nice looking piece and a Great price too.

Cheers

 

That pretty cool. I think I found a complete Aeroquip set up on RJ for 850.00 shipped. new in the box

 

For a Buick ? Post some pictures.

 

Why not the vacuum pump from a 80's 6.2 or 6.5 GM Diesel. Probably plenty in the yards. Belt driven and pretty reliable.

 

If you use motor plates it will be easier to mount the pump. Steve made the same mount for me and it works sweet. I will try and get some pics of my set up this weekend and post them. A smog pump won't work it will burn up.
Rick