Most late-model GM enthusiasts spend their time thinking of ways to stuff more air into their engine, rather than pull it out. Yet that is exactly what a vacuum pump is designed to do, and it can help you keep your piston rings sealed better, keep oil out of your intake, and even make more power.

All engines will have some amount of blow-by, or compressed air, exhaust gasses, and unburned fuel that sneaks past the piston rings during the compression process. High performance and racing engines are particularly prone to blow-by, and serious pressure can begin to build up inside the crank case – not a good thing for power production or efficiency. To get rid of crank case pressure, most engines are equipped with some kind of “positive crankcase ventilation” (or PCV) system that uses the vacuum created by the engine’s intake tract to suck the excess pressure out of the crank case. It’s a great idea in theory, but all that oily air that’s now making its way into your intake will eventually start to condense and a nice oily build up will start to form. LSx engines are notorious for getting a ton of oil in the intake manifold thanks to the PCV system, and creating yet another situation where power production could be reduced.

That’s where a belt driven Vacuum Pump like those from GZ Motorsports can come into play. A vacuum pump is meant to replace your LS’s PCV system and can more effectively pull the pressure from the crankcase, help your piston rings seal better, and never let a drop of oil get into your intake tract. GZ’s Vacuum pumps bolt right to the heads of your LS engine, and are driven by a cog that replaces your stock tensioner pulley, and is plumbed to a custom billet replacement oil fill cap where the crankcase pressure will be pulled from. The oily air pulled from the crankcase is then plumbed to a double baffled aluminum breather tank. Their vacuum pumps can pull up to 33 CFM of positive pressure from your crankcase and can even be adjusted to your engine’s specific needs. For more info on their LSx vacuum pumps check out GZ Motorsports website, or give them a call at 209-296-3793.