Leed Brakes Electric Vacuum Pump Kit - Black Bandit Series (VP001B)

In 2020, I rebuilt the engine in my 1974 Chevrolet Monte Carlo to include a high-lift camshaft which helped it produce ~400 horsepower. Unfortunately, a cam like that doesn't produce much vacuum at idle which is a problem when driving in heavy stop-and-go traffic. In other words, the engine couldn't produce sufficient vacuum for the power brake booster when run in those conditions. Furthermore, my car has vacuum actuated servos to direct air flow in the HVAC system and the cruise control servo is also vacuum actuated. I should mention that this car is still my daily driver. I looked into various solutions to address this problem and ultimately put together what worked best for my application – a high-performance personal luxury daily driver. My solution was to install a LEED Bandit vacuum pump with an auxiliary vacuum storage canister. I chose the LEED unit because it's quiet, powerful and self-contained. The all-in-one design made installation easy and tidy. The instructions were straight forward and easy to follow. For my application, I drilled and tapped the mounting bracket to accept the bolts for the vapor carbon canister then installed the pump in the space created when I deleted the carbon canister. The pump draws a lot of current so I wired it to a dedicated power relay. I mounted the auxiliary vacuum canister with gauge on the wheel well between the pump and the brake booster. I plumbed the vacuum line from the pump to the canister and from there, via a T fitting, one line goes to the cruise control unit and one goes to a 4-way manifold; one is pump/canister vacuum, one is engine vacuum via a one-way check valve, one is brake booster, one is HVAC. I've been running this for ten-months and have been delighted with the results. All the HVAC servos operate without hesitation, the cruise control works better than it has at anytime in the 40-years I've owned this car, and, it should go without saying, the power brake booster never suffers from a lack of vacuum. I no longer have to sacrifice some creature comforts in favor of horsepower, I get to enjoy the best of both worlds. I go to a coffee and donuts morning cruise on Saturdays and owners of some of the other cars at the cruise have asked me about my setup whereupon I give my endorsement of the LEED pump. M.V., Feb. 27, 2024

Due to an after-market cam in a 440 Chrysler engine, did not have sufficient vacuum to operate OEM Brake Booster. Engine provided around 8 inches of vacuum at idle. Brake Booster required minimum 18 inches of vacuum. Wiring pump was easy. I used a relay to keep electrical load on vehicle fuse box to a minimum. Pump included wire and hose to connect into OEM Brake Booster. Overall easy install. Pump provided a little over 21 inches of vacuum. Booster worked fine. Would recommend.

Good product

I'm very happy with this unit , I looked at some cheaper units and I was concerned about how much noise it was going to make . I mounted this to the core support of my 1969 GTO using the supplied hardware, but added a 1/4" thick sheet of rubber between the bracket and my core support. My brand new power disc brakes were not getting enough vacuum from the intake due to a large cam , this unit solved that and my brakes work awesome. Installation was easy , nothing a novice couldn't handle. Very happy Pontiac guy now .

Bought this kit because my LS only produces 9in of vacuum with the cam that is in it. It works about 80 percent of the time, the rest of the time I have zero brake boost. I checked the vacuum and realized the switch was only switching on when vacuum dropped to 10in, I called leed and they sent a new vacuum switch out. 2 days later, switch is bad again. I have almost been in several accidents because of this electric vacuum switch, after much more research I found out that the switch they use is absolute junk. Same as the Dacray switch they sell on amazon. The pump was very quiet compared to my last vacuum pump which is great, but not so great when I have no brakes in a high horsepower car. I even installed a vacuum canister in hopes that would help, which it did slightly. For the price this thing should work flawlessly. I am now buying a hydro boost set up, which I should have done in the first place. Don't waste the money, just go with the hydro boost. Don't say you weren't warned.

This unit is first class, quiet and easy to install. You can see in photo that I have a reservoir which you don't really need but I had install to see if that would correct that hard pedal. I do like the tank gauge, came with tank. With the extra storage my pump runs less than a min to reach 20”Hg of vacuum at start up. My reservoir usually holds 10"Hg for a couple weeks. Should have insralled this a couple years ago.

Brake vacuum booster seam to no it’s job and doesn’t make much noise

I used this pump for my sbc 383 that has no vacuum at idle. This is not completely silent, but when the vehicle is running it is very faint. If I mounted it further away from the firewall I am sure it would not be audible at all. So far it is fantastic, only runs for a few seconds when needed. I had a vacuum canister alone before, but would never build enough vacuum. Brakes are just like a new car now.