The vacuum pump failed yesterday on my O-320 Lycoming. An Airborne Rapco 200CC which is doubtless a cheapie. Evidently seized with no degradation of vacuum priory to failure. The plane is flown VFR only. What should I replace it with? Same? Different PMA brand? Opinions welcome 
Thanks
Tempest – if they do the same size.
Silvaire wrote:
The plane is flown VFR only. What should I replace it with? Same? Different PMA brand? Opinions welcome Thanks
Chuck it out !
You don’t need no frig’n gyros in a VFR ship !
CKN wrote:
wow, that’s beautiful…. or as my California born wife would say – “that’s totally awesome”.I guess there is a radio tucked away somewhere if you are flying around Paris?
Me being an ex-surfer born & raised in So Cal and all – I would say, not only it’s totally Awesome, but it’s really Rad !
There is indeed a VHF & Xponder hidden down over on the left of the panel, you can just barely see it in the bottom left.
Here’s some more Eye Candy :
I can’t throw away the gyros because the panel would look awful with all those empty holes.
I have another plane to fly while I’m changing vacuum pumps this week. That one weight 800 lbs and has no vacuum pump to break… Actually it’s no big deal to change the pump and then Plane #2 will be OK for quite a while at 50 hours per year. I’ll miss the US $400 but will get over it!
It’s nice to see photos of the C140 in the snow. If somebody boasts that they have a beautiful panel in their plane, tell them you have a beautiful panel too… Sort of Art Deco, grey in color and practical too with very large glove boxes 
Also you will die if you have to go into IMC. I know many people say it will never happen… but…
Brings back fond memories of the C140 I used to fly, rather less fond memories of polishing the unpainted parts! (Although it did look nice just after being polished).
Even though the Auster is VFR only, I would personally want to keep the gyros – there is enough VFR but poor visibility (especially crossing the Irish Sea) that having them is useful.
If I flew in Northern Europe I’d be very happy to have an AI on board. One of my favorite books is the aviation oriented autobiography of Jeffrey Quill, the Supermarine test pilot. He describes flying every day in England to gather weather data, pre-gyro instruments. When he got a turn-and-slip, one gyro instrument, he felt it was transformational. No more spinning out of the clouds!… (If I recall correctly they would attempt to climb through clouds if the cloudbase was high enough to recover below!!)
Michael’s C140 has a turn-and-slip in the panel, and I suppose there’s a vacuum horn on the other side of the plane. I have the same on my simple plane.
