Vacuum pumps

[AJs72K5]

This topic came up near the end of Shawn’s brake booster thread, but don’t want to muddy it up.

I’m running dual diaphragm booster on the K5. It’s got a healthy cam that doesn’t make much vacuum at idle...pedal is pretty hard. No intentions of switching over to hydro for a while.

Anyone have experience running a vacuum pump? What worked well, what didn’t? Any issues? Recommendations on pumps?

 

[Shawn]

I really wanted to try a vacuum pump. Looks like a volvo vacuum pump might be the way if you're on a budget. Probably would need a vacuum switch unless its built into the pump. It also helps if you have the largest booster possible, dual diaphragm like 11". The smaller ones are ok but the larger ones will always put out more pressure. You can also try a smaller bore with the booster.

I ended up going hydroboost which is more complicated and expensive.

Better copy of this here:
http://www.classicperform.com/PDFs/BoosterBrakePressureChart.pdf

 

[imiceman44]

This topic came up near the end of Shawn’s brake booster thread, but don’t want to muddy it up.

I’m running dual diaphragm booster on the K5. It’s got a healthy cam that doesn’t make much vacuum at idle...pedal is pretty hard. No intentions of switching over to hydro for a while.

Anyone have experience running a vacuum pump? What worked well, what didn’t? Any issues? Recommendations on pumps?

I had a diesel in the first k5 I had and it was still vacuum brake booster, the engine had a shaft driven vacuum pump and the shop that did the transplant added a 3 gallon air tank to work as a vacuum tank.
As long as I let the engine run for a minute I had great brakes and lasted much longer than any truck after the engine was shut down

 

[NV Jimmy]

I had a stiff pedal and poor brake performance after my LS install. I purchased and installed a silent drive vacuum pump from master power brakes and it work great. Compact and easy to install. I would recommend to anyone who is considering a vacuum pump.

https://www.mpbrakes.com/

 

[campfire]

I had a diesel in the first k5 I had and it was still vacuum brake booster, the engine had a shaft driven vacuum pump and the shop that did the transplant added a 3 gallon air tank to work as a vacuum tank.
As long as I let the engine run for a minute I had great brakes and lasted much longer than any truck after the engine was shut down

3 gallons?

Whatever prompted such a large reservoir?

 

[ChrisPerry]

3 gallons?

Whatever prompted such a large reservoir?

He drives a bigrig for a living, probably what he had lying around.

 

[imiceman44]

He drives a bigrig for a living, probably what he had lying around.

I didn't make it.
It was a shop in Sacramento.