I'm guessing I'm not the only guy here who'd rather not punch any breather holes in those nifty vintage valve covers. I could do either PCV or not, and I'm starting to have strange thoughts involving drilling holes in the intake manifold and maybe fabbing an oil fill tube/breather in place of the mechanical fuel pump block-off plate. Short of going all the way back to draft tubes, what have you done that works?
This is an "oldie" but a "goodie" and because there are some good pictures on "PCV's for FLATHEADS", it needs to be BBTTT
why would you put a PVC valve on a flathead? Polyvinyl Chloride is hardly traditional. I kinda like the whole mechanical fuel pump blockoff location idea thing. Paul
I'm tapping into one of the cross overs on the DragStar intake and putting a PCV valve in the valley cover on my 322 with a breather on the fill tube. Hardly noticeable tucked in between the carbs. Good thread.
Hey Dave - I think all of this was added to the other flathead PCV valve post. which I will add to Tech as soon as it drops or people stop adding useful info.
[ QUOTE ] why would you put a PVC valve on a flathead? [/ QUOTE ] For the same reason as putting them on newer engines. **** moisture (condensation) and blowby out of the crankcase. If you don't mind oil blowing out the breather; don't install one.
[ QUOTE ] Hey Dave - I think all of this was added to the other flathead PCV valve post. which I will add to Tech as soon as it drops or people stop adding useful info. [/ QUOTE ] Yeh, Petejoe types faster than me! Think for those who want to keep their flatties clean (and the envirionment!) this thread (NOW ON THE OTHER) could help. The ***le on this one got lost. Thanks everyone for the contributions. Grim, can you redirect any further replies to this thread to the "PVC VALVES FOR FLATHEADS?"
[ QUOTE ] Has anyone fabricated a breather that bolts in place of the mechanical fuel pump block-off plate? Picture a six inch tube in an L-shape with a breather on top, and welded to a block-off plate drilled for air flow on the bottom. [/ QUOTE ] i did one,for my nephew's mulletstang.you wanna drive down here sometime and look at it? gimme a call 408-227-6802 -george
Dave, did you know PVC stands for Polyvinyl Chloride and PCV stands for Positive Crankcase Ventilation? like I said why put PVC on a flathead??? Paul
[ QUOTE ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Has anyone fabricated a breather that bolts in place of the mechanical fuel pump block-off plate? Picture a six inch tube in an L-shape with a breather on top, and welded to a block-off plate drilled for air flow on the bottom. [/ QUOTE ] Not quite and sorta.... Made a fuel pump blockoff plate from 1/2" thick aluminum. Drilled and tapped for a 3/8-NPT fitting and a #8 male end on the other. Ran a braided stainless line from there to the clean air area of the front air filter on a dual quad on the 462" Buick. This piece added because I didn't think the engine was getting enough fresh air into the crankcase from the home-made - billet aluminum - oil filler with #8 braided line on the left rocker cover that was plumbed into the same area on the front air filter. Worked fine, but after running the dual fresh air feed I reverted to the single line from the rockers oil filler when I went to a single four barrel. The PCV valve was mounted in the usual Buick location - for the 455's anyway - at the rear of the intake manifold and it was plumbed into the base of the rear carb on the dual quad setup. With the single quad it was plumbed into the base of that. I read somewhere that PCV valves are sized to fit a particular engine displacement and I'm beginning to think the PCV valve on the Buick is a generic for an SBC. Something I need to pursue further. The important part in all this is - you need clean air for the fresh air makeup. Pulling in air from an unfiltered source is dumping dust et al into the crankcase proper and that's not so good. Even the old Ford 352 FE's - and the 390's as well - weren't so swift with their horsehair oil filler/filter cap on the rocker cover. Every one of those I ever checked felt gritty on the inside beyond the so-called filter. Interesting part about the additional fresh air makeup line going to the fuel pump blockoff was that it set many an observer to scratching his head. Surprising part was no one asked about it. From the way they looked it was obvious they hadn't figured it out, but were too bashful to ask.
Sorry for the basic question, but... Could somebody show an air flow diagram with the PCV in place. I currently am running and SBC with a breather on one valve cover and a cap on the other. I hope to eventually get some nice covers but for now this is what I have. I do get a bit of oil and oilly smoke barfing out of the breather occasionally and I notice alot of condensation in the capped valve cover. Will proper installation of the PCV help these situations. I don't mean to highjack the post, so please ignore if I'm to far off topic. Thanks. Tim
[ QUOTE ] Dave, did you know PVC stands for Polyvinyl Chloride and PCV stands for Positive Crankcase Ventilation? like I said why put PVC on a flathead??? Paul [/ QUOTE ] OK Paul, ya got me! I shouldn't answer posts with dirty trifocals!!
[ QUOTE ] My brother runs a 302 Ford in his current hot rod. (1965 Mustang) He put on those Edelbrock valve covers with the fins and they had no breather holes. He put a set of aluminum valve cover spacers under the valve covers painted the same blue as the motor. He drilled holes and instaled some tubes for 5/16 fuel line hose. One hose runs to the bottom of the air cleaner and the other hangs down in back of the head with a small breather on the end out of sight. The spacers let him use the valve covers and the hoses arent that obvious. He has a four barrel Holley on it with a chrome round air cleaner. Looks good and works for him! [/ QUOTE ] 1965 Mustangs are NOT hot rods...
[ QUOTE ] What kinda motor do you have? [/ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] it's a Ford 289 [/ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] 302 Ford in his current hot rod. (1965 Mustang) [/ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] 1965 Mustangs are NOT hot rods... [/ QUOTE ] which makes me wonder, what valve covers are we taking about here exactly? I understand the desire to create efficient ventilation and it's importance in engine longivity and even the want of making the vetilation less obvious on an older motor,, but wasn't this question originaly about venting a small block Ford? lets see these "virgins", what makes them so unsacrificeable? even if it could save the motor? ,, and Dave, I was just pulling your leg, that little mixup has always bugged me.. I don't have one (a PCV valve) on my current motor, I have four big breathers cut into my covers! but I kinda like all that stuff sticking out Paul
Paul, that DOES look good! How about stepping back, and letting us see the rest of the car! "Leg pullin'"; hey I need to be "staightened out" once and a while!
Zonkola, I believe what you're looking for is exactly what I did with my SBC. 1. Drill a hole (~1.25") for an oil fill tube in the front of the intake manifold, adjacent to the top radiator hose. 2. Drill & tap a hole in the back of the intake manifold for the PCV valve. I located mine between the carb, dizzy and coil bracket. I also had a friend weld a baffle under this hole so oil doesn't get ****ed into the PCV valve. It'll look something like this:
3. I then bent some ss tubing to connect the PCV valve to the front of the carb. That looks like this:
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