I need to install a breather/oil fill port on one of my valve covers since I changed out my intake to a unit without the fill tube. I have a set of Cal custom finned aluminum covers that came with no holes in them. These are on a 283 in a 64 Chevy Belair wagon that I am trying to keep in a general mid 60's low dollar custom theme. Is there a particular breather that would fit this ? I saw several at last weeks MI Billetproof that had a rectangular port on the side of the valve cover, I thought those looked good. Any advice ? Thanks Scott
I like this guy, if you have room for it. Looks early 60's style to me. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Edel...3017945QQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116 It seems like my old man had the valve covers plumbed together with a breather over the intake on at least one car. I looked around, but couldn't find one that looked like it. He may have made the setup.
I love 'em. They say 50s/60s hotrod to me. One thing to consider is that most of them have some kind of foam or mesh baffling in them which makes them difficult to use for adding oil. I know of a few guys that use them and simply pull a VC when they change their oil. It could be a PITA to add a quart in a gas station on the road but you do what ya gotta do to look cool.
Ole Reliable, Just a reminder. If you drive it like this and you don't have a PCV valve you will blow oil past the main seals.
Right now it has a rubber plug where the road draft tube was and a hard pipe running into 3/8 rubber hose that is attached to the bottom of the air filter housing. Not sure if that has enough negative pressure or not but thats what I have. I like those breathers, that is exactly the style I was looking for. Thanks
Thats the beauty of this group, more car info than you could ever use and someone always willing to help.
That won't be enough ventilation for the engine. I epoxied the top of this breather shut so that the PCV valve in the bottom side of this breather has to pull air from the VC. In my case the breather on the other VC and the fill tube work to let fresh air into the engine. My friend did the same thing and he has no filler tube either. His works well with only the one 50s breather on the other VC for the air inlet. He's the one that pulls the cover to change his oil. It's not a big problem for him.
How About ??? Being you have the road draft tube opening why not fab up a combination fill tube and PCV deal that would fit the hole. Use one of the later 60s style postive seal cap and fill tube for the top. Some already have a hole for the PCV but easy enough to do. That way you can add oil easy and have the PCV connectio where you need it. You could use the block end of the orignal road draft tube so it would bolt to the block and give you a little offset to clear the dist. A bit of welding would be all you would need.
Becareful of some of the Offenhauser type vents that you don't create an oil ladder. The interior baffles, with help from crankcase pressure, can allow oil to go up baffle to baffle, until it makes it into the rest of your engine compartment.
Sellers had some he was selling in the cl***ifieds a few months ago, I really liked them, but I dont know whats up with that , if he's on here or not or banned or what ever?
On my 383 stroker, I have cal-custom VC's, filler tube, and a screw-in PCV valve installed in the intake manifold, just ahead of the dist on the right side, which is connected to the rear carb vacuum port. My problem is that I have oil coming out of the filler tube (it has a breather type cap), which drips on the front of the block and is blown, by the wind/fan all over the engine, firewall and windsheild. What's the fix for that? Would these breathers work? Thank you.
Here are a couple of pics of what I have now. Just so I am clear, with the vent from the road draft port up to the carb AND a new vent added to the valve cover, will I have enough ventilation ?
BBYBMR, I have the exact same problem. Check out the "discreet pcv" thread. Lots of ideas and theorys.
No!! There is very little vacuum inside the air cleaner above the throttle plates. There is not enough suction to evacuate the crankcase. The hose from the air cleaner to the valve cover on later Chevrolets that you often see is actually the air intake for the PCV valve on a closed system. Air enters the crankcase there. The first Chevrolet PCV valve was installed between the road draft hole in the block and the base of the carburetor. The big can baffle was still in the lifter gallery. Some guys have used the Chevrolet fitting or found a rubber grommet to fit that hole for the PCV valve to fit into with the other end going to the base of the carb with a hose. If you have the road draft tube hole, I'd use it. The problems come up with a later block that doesn't have that hole. You will still need a breather to let fresh air into the engine. The Offy style will work just fine. I cut strips of Scotchbrite to fill the cavity of the Offy breather to act as a filter for the incoming air. The used ones that I have restored had wasted filter elements of deteriorated foam rubber. Scotchbrite is not affected by the oil fumes. I get it at the grocery store.
Is the cap on the filler tube sealed like this one? A twist on cap with a gasket. If it's a push in type your PCV valve will never work right. The tube has to be sealed so that the air can only enter the engine from the breathers located else where on the engine travel through the engine and get ****ed out at the filler tube. If the filler tube isn't sealed it won't work right.
It is a push-in type. It is also the breather. If I seal the filler tube, where should the breather(s) be installed?
I'm sorry I mis read your first post. I was thinking you had the pcv valve plugged into the fill tube. When you say rear vacuum port on the carb, you are talking about the big one at the bottom of the base right?
Right now I am using a port on the back of the carb for brake vacuum since the old manifold didnt have a provision for it. If I switch the brake vacuum to the manifold port that is currently plugged, I can then run my line from my road draft tube to the base of the carb with a PCV valve installed and I should be good to go..... Thanks a ton. Scott
Heres what I ended up doing.... I ran the vacuum line for the brake booster to the intake port that I had plugged. I then removed the PCV valve and br*** 90 degree block off of the back of the original 2 bbl carb that was on the 283 I took out of the car. These cleaned up nice with a wire wheel and fit perfect on the back of the carb. It turned out that I had everything I needed to make the correct changes, that dont happen often in my garage. Turned out to be a good project that my 15 y/o son and I handled pretty quickly. Thanks for all the helps. Now..... I have to figure out where the electrical problem is, but thats another thread.....
If you run the pcv like it is with no breather you are going to cause oil leaks starting with your main seals. You absolutly need a way to allow fresh air into the engine. If not the manifold va***e will pull in your weekest seal and or gasket.
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