Paul,
This probably rates up there with the "Rotary Displacement" question,
but I'm going to ask anyway.   When you swap out a certified aircraft
engine for a Rotary, how do you run that panel full of vacuum gauges?
I've never heard of anyone keeping their air pump on an aircraft
conversion.  I've always had "all electric" panels in the past, so I
never really thought about it until now.
Don


A few years ago smog pumps were common on car engines. Turns out they
make great vacuum pumps for powering instruments. A bit heavy however
but very very cheap in the junkyards.


Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

Don,
John Slade is using the smog pump as a vacuum pump in his plane.
There is one thing you should know:
These pumps when [they] fail they lock up solid. And the shaft is not made
to shear like the certified pumps do.
Buly

Has anybody had a smog pump fail in their car? I put 300,000 miles on one
in my Cosmo. My RX4 also had one as I recall. So too my RX2 with 200,000 miles as I recall.
They are very well made inside with something like 8 ball bearings.
I think it would fail the V belt if it locked up. An aircraft vac pump needs to shear
the shaft as they are gear driven.

Pictures by John Slade from his web site.
Smog  pump above the turbo.

BTW here is a picture of a racing car vac pump you can buy from Summit Racing parts.

Paul

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