Vacuum Pump

Another detail of the project I haven't mentioned much is the vacuum pump. If you have power assist brakes (and most newer cars do) there is a vacuum hose running from the engine (which has LOTS of these hoses) to the brake cylinder. The vacuum helps you apply more braking power without popping your high heel off. Since this car is going to be even heavier than before it is important to keep this invisible heavy foot around to help us brake. Enter the electric vacuum pump:

This is a nice, compact, self-contained unit that does everything we need. It has a powerful electric pump, it has a pressure (vacuum) sensitive switch, and it probably has one or two one way valves. The pressure switch is on whenever the level of vacuum is too low, which causes the pump to fire up and start sucking the air out of the master cylinder (below). Once it gets enough vacuum setup the switch opens, the pump shuts off, and the little one way valves close to prevent air from leaking in.

Now all I have to do is buy some hose to connect the two and wire the vacuum assembly into the switched twelve volts via an appropriate fuse. Not too exciting, but important all the same.