Manual Vacuum Pump . . .

[tekenaar]

. . . no section for special tools and since this tool is used for testing many different engine vacuum devices, including distributor canisters, I'm posting my little fix here . . . might even help someone else.

Had noticed that the clear plastic bezel in my Sears manual vacuum pump's gauge was loose and would come out of the plastic gauge back every now and again. A couple weeks ago the plastic back finally also broke completely off its mounting screw, it had evidently been cracked for some time, hence the problem with the loose dial bezel.

No problem, I thought . . . Sears tool, I'll just go get a replacement! Not so fast, grasshopper, come to find out. Seems that "special tools" carry only a "limited" one year warranty, not "lifetime"! OK, so can I get a new plastic back for the gauge from Sears parts then? . . . of course NOT! . . . only have the whole vacuum gauge listed!

OK, can't be that bad, right?! . . . called them up and they said the replacement vacuum gauge would be $24.48 plus sales tax and shipping! . . . hmmm, paid $30 and sales tax for the whole pump! Not going to do that since there's nothing wrong with it other than the cracked plastic gauge back. Terrible idea in the first place to make that vacuum gauge back out of very thin, brittle plastic!

Took some measurement of the broken plastic gauge back pieces, 2" dia. x 3/4" deep, and thought about what was available to replace it, but in metal! . . . don't want to be doing this again at some point, so metal it will be!

Came up with some possibles, concentrate juice cans and small condiment cans came to mind first. Then I remembered that juice cans typically have cardboard bodies and only the ends are metal! Rats!! Actually found a small can of sliced "button" mushrooms that might have worked, when I remembered that "touch-up" spray paint also came in very small diameter cans . . . with metal tops!

So, I went to all the "chain" parts stores to see what they had and found that spray paint cans now all have nothing but plastic caps! . . . CRAP! Luckily I remembered buying "touch-up" paint for a small ding on my Corona wagon back in the late '70s. Of course, I didn't use very much of it and put it in box with many other spray cans . . . but also remembered never tossing it out either.

A trip into the attic soon revealed that I had kept two different cans of that size, both with their tops! A bit of "spray can" history is perhaps needed here, as I found that one can had a metal cap while that other one, purchased a few years later, had a white plastic one painted in the color of the contents . . . evidently before they they began molding the plastic tops in the spray can contents colors!

Took the metal cap, taped the edge at 3/4" depth and used an X-acto hobby razor saw along the taped edge to trim the rolled "snap-on" lip from the cap. Marked a square hole on the edge of the cap to fit around the gauge inlet, drilled the four corners and used a small "diamond" bit to slot the edges of the hole from corner to corner. Drilled additional hole in the back for the single back mounting screw.

Trial assembled pieces and made some final adjustment to the fabricated back. Was going to finish the back by painting it black like the original plastic piece . . . but decided to leave it as-is, complete with its "camel-desert-tan" GM paint code intact! . . . "one-of-a-kind" tool is much cooler than a merely "fixed" one, don't you agree?!

So, here it is then . . . .