I have charged the AC on many of my cars at home. You don't need a $300 vacuum pump. I pull it mostly down using manifold vacuum, then switch to a hand Mighty-Mite pump to get down to >20" Hg vacuum. It might take 5 min of pumping. I let it out-gas 30 min, re-pump, then close the valve and let it sit overnight to insure no leak. If your car won't idle (race cam), you can buy a used electric pump for $50 on ebay. They are used for power brake boosters on Euro diesels (VW, Audi, ...). A friend with a diesel likely has a vacuum pump on it (my old M-B do). Easiest with a 2-gage AC set. Before I got one at HF, I used a home-made setup where I cut a low-pressure hose in two and added a T with a valve to the pump.
