So I have an oil leak I can't kill. It's coming form my vacuum pump. This has lead to much rage, but I think I have a solution.
Kill the vacuum pump.
I want to run a 12 volt electric vacuum pump. This means I could remove my rage enspiring factory one with somehting that plugs in. It would also mean that if my alternator were to bug out that I may be able to find a non diesel one that would work.
I think Ford diesels of certain years have an electric pump and I'm going to start looking into it. Is anyone aware of any other vehicels/models that have an electric vacuum pump? I've found a few after market ones but they tend to supliment existing vacume where I just want to throw the existing pump into space.
There is always the option of running a small electric compressor backwards to gain vac but I kinda like the idea of using proven technology (even if it is scavanged from a ford).
As I write this the I'm wondering if this is a dumb idea but who knows, safety glass and sticky notes were both the results of dumb ideas.

Maurie

Interesting problem. I've had my alternator out twice now, so I thought I'd do a little digging into this as well.

One group with the same problem is people doing Electric Vehicle (EV) conversions to their cars.

Check out these links:
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/vines/5565/powrbrak.html
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/4214/links.html#EV%20Parts

Looks like these guys have what you want. In Canada, but old website:

http://www.canev.com/KitsComp/Components/VacuumPumpKit.html