Brake servo on a 2A Diesel ?

I'm feeling that I need to lighten the pedal pressure on my 1970 88 Diesel.
My joints aren't getting any younger, long journeys are taking their toll on my right knee.
Brakes are standard 88 type 10" drums all round with a non-servo master cylinder.
So with late 2A wings, I can fit a series three brake servo without cutting away any metalwork., just change the pedal box etc.
I'm in two minds about generating vacuum.
I could get hold of the "butterfly " for the inlet manifold, as fitted to some series three vehicles, along with the pressed steel vacuum tank.
I've heard some negative opinions about this set up, that it can be troublesome and difficult to set up.
My other option would seem to be fitting an alternator with a vacuum pump fitted on the back.
Not sure about the pros and cons of this set up, will it work with the Land Rover type servo ?

I would hazard a guess any servo will pretty much work with any vacuum pump.

lynall said:

I would hazard a guess any servo will pretty much work with any vacuum pump.

Click to expand...

And you'd be right.

An alternator with built in vacuum pump will give better results that the old L/Rover butterfly system, especially in traffic, but it will need a pressurised oil supply.
Power brake systems are very popular in the US which only need a 12 volt supply as they have a built in pump.

Rangieman123 said:

Power brake systems are very popular in the US which only need a 12 volt supply as they have a built in pump.

Click to expand...

They've got some interesting stuff in the US.
Power brakes that work off the power steering pump, and electrically operating trailer brakes.
Unfortunately the latter are totally illegal in the UK (AFAIK) despite the fact that they have a built in failsafe.
Not seen any electrically powered brake servos for sale over here.
I'm aware that some small cars use an electric pump for their Power Steering.
Dunno if that could be adapted to power a brake servo

Have a look at www.mpbrakes.com
They now do 12volt vacuum pumps which might give you a solution.

Q. Would one of these fit a series engine block ?
And work from the eccentric cam that normally drives the lift pump ?
Apparently it fits a 200Tdi engine unless I've read the description wrongly.

And that would leave me in the strange position of having to fit an electric lift pump for a diesel engine.
TBH, series lift pumps, while theoretically being an ideal choice, have been the bane of my life, frequently leaking, sucking in air, stripping union threads and generally being inaccessible.
An electric pump mounted on the inner wing, would be so much more accessible, I could swap it out in five minutes.

grewth said:

Q. Would one of these fit a series engine block ?
And work from the eccentric cam that normally drives the lift pump ?
Apparently it fits a 200Tdi engine unless I've read the description wrongly.

And that would leave me in the strange position of having to fit an electric lift pump for a diesel engine.
TBH, series lift pumps, while theoretically being an ideal choice, have been the bane of my life, frequently leaking, sucking in air, stripping union threads and generally being inaccessible.
An electric pump mounted on the inner wing, would be so much more accessible, I could swap it out in five minutes.View attachment 328233

Click to expand...

No idea, but like most things LR it just might, would certainly be a neat solution, oh and I think that is a 300 vac pump, the 200 vac pump fits where the series inj pump mounts.

I fitted a cheap copy facet elec fuel pump to my 200tdi years ago as was sick if lift pump issues, been fine all this time.

lynall said:

No idea, but like most things LR it just might, would certainly be a neat solution, oh and I think that is a 300 vac pump, the 200 vac pump fits where the series inj pump mounts.

I fitted a cheap copy facet elec fuel pump to my 200tdi years ago as was sick if lift pump issues, been fine all this time.

Click to expand...

Many thanks !
Thanks for the heads up on it being from the 300 engine.
Pattern vacuum pumps like that trending at about £70 which suits my wallet fine.
From experience I know that the petrol lift pump is rated at 2-3 psi, while the diesel lift pump is 3-5psi.
I don't think that it's really critical TBH.
And it would give me a lot of potential for fiendishly cunning anti theft devices, like a timed cut out on the pump.
As for that vacuum pump, the bolt hole pattern looks very familiar, not sure yet, but it looks promising.
I wonder if Land Rover altered the eccentric cam on the camshaft for the 300Tdi ?
Or did they just recycle the original 1957 design yet again ?

grewth said:

Many thanks !
Thanks for the heads up on it being from the 300 engine.
Pattern vacuum pumps like that trending at about £70 which suits my wallet fine.
From experience I know that the petrol lift pump is rated at 2-3 psi, while the diesel lift pump is 3-5psi.
I don't think that it's really critical TBH.
And it would give me a lot of potential for fiendishly cunning anti theft devices, like a timed cut out on the pump.
As for that vacuum pump, the bolt hole pattern looks very familiar, not sure yet, but it looks promising.
I wonder if Land Rover altered the eccentric cam on the camshaft for the 300Tdi ?
Or did they just recycle the original 1957 design yet again ?

Click to expand...

No idea (to lazy to look!) on the pressure the facet pump delivers, but you can tell when it is not switched on, it only really makes any difference at higher rpm as the bosch ve injection pump also has its own built in vane pump, so as an anti theft device it is a no go on the tdi engines, but might be different on the series diesels.