1952-59 Ford 302 ventilation, pcv

For those of you who are following my build thread (Houston Build Thread) ....I have a question or two related to the engine breathing properly and the pcv.

I'm using late model valve 302 valve covers that have the oil filler tube on the p***enger side and nothing at all on the driver's side valve cover.

My question is....what is necessary for proper ventilation/breathing?

Would a pcv added to the p***enger's side valve cover be sufficienct as long as the oil filler has a breather cap? Or....do both valve covers need to breathe/ventilate?

I've seen 302 valve covers for sale from Summit and Speedway that have a breather/oil fill and a pcv, both on one of the valve covers and nothing on the other, so I'm thinking this must be acceptable.

My other option is to buy a set like this and add my 1954 paint scheme and stickers to them, but I'd rather keep the set that I have already done up.

 

In theory, all you need is "fresh air in" - "dirty air out" for it to breath properly.

The idea behind the whole thing is to dispose of (A) combustion residue from blow-by and (B) water vapor, which is a product of combustion, by ****ing them out of the crankcase and re-burning them in the engine so that they are expelled out the exhaust instead of building up in the crankcase.

If you've ever dis***embled a pre-PCV engine with lots of miles on it you're familiar with the incredible amount of thick, black, yucky crud found inside! That's what happens when you don't dispose of the by-products with a properly functioning PCV system.

Ideally the "in" would be on one side (or end) of the motor, and the "out" on the other side (or end). This would provide cross-flow air movement. If the "in" and the "out" were in the same valve cover, that head would be kept clean but the rest of the engine would still suffer.

The oil filler tube on your right valve cover will suffice for the "in" place, so all you need to do is find an "out" place that is baffled and will accept a PCV valve of one sort or another. The PCV then connects to the big port on your Edelbrock carburetor using a length of rubber hose.

If there is not a port on your intake manifold which accesses the crankcase, you'll need to find a left valve cover which will accept a PCV valve in a baffled hole. This would provide the desired cross-flow of air from one side of the engine to the other. The baffle is necessary to keep the PCV from ****ing oil/oil vapor into the intake and causing exhaust smoke and possibly excess oil consumption.

Hopefully you can find a left valve cover which will match your right valve cover so that you can keep the really clean, neat appearance you have worked so hard to achieve.

Good luck!

 

on the late model valve covers and engine the pcv valve is in the intake . and yes the brather oil cap and a pcv vale somewhere should be good .

 

Thanks for the info guys....now that I have the "rules" down, I'll try and figure something out.

I'm wondering if I found another late model p***enger side valve cover, flipped it around and used it on the driver's side. Then I could remove the filler tube and use that hole for a pcv.

Of course the easier/cleaner solution would be to find a way to **** air from the crankcase....but finding it is the issue. I don't think this Edelbrock Performer has such a thing.

 

Flipping the valve cover side-to-side might work, but the PCV valve must be baffled so that oil splash isn't ****ed up by the PCV vacuum an introduced into the engine. You could make a sheet metal baffle or steal one from a Chevy valve cover and weld it on, but you can't skip this detail. Sorry.

BTW: Yes, I am aware that the cheap aftermarket valve covers don't have internal baffles. But there's a good reason why every factory valve cover has this feature. The way I look at it, you might as well do it right while you're doin' it...

 

Rusty- I have a pair of the valve covers that you are using if you want them.

Does the oil filler tube twist out? I wonder what the hole it leaves looks like if it does...

 

Eric....thanks for the info about the baffles....I'll definitely add one to my finished product.

mjlangley....I would like them.....I don't think the tube twists out, I think it's pressed in and will take more effort to get it out.

 

Early Corvettes 65-67 had an oil filler neck that had a 1/4' bung built into the neck,one end of the PVC screwed into that and the other end had a hose ******,and the hose went to the PCV fitting in the Carb.If you remove the valve cover and drill a hole about halfway up the neck and solder in a 1/4 pipe fitting you could just repaint the neck and call it done.

 

Close, Jeff, but not quite right. The Corvettes you speak of had an air intake at the rear of the engine block, plumbed to the air cleaner as a source of filtered air. The air outlet was at the oil fill tube, using a PCV valve to the carburetor base as you mentioned. The oil filler tube had a turn-on style cap which sealed the tube. It was not a breather-style filler. (Below is a photo of the '65-'67 Corvette PCV system I found on the internet - the captions are as they were found.)



This system had very good back-to-front air flow through the crankcase and was very efficient. The Corvette PCV air intake was so well disguised that many people missed it. A variation of this design might work out very well if he can find access to the rear of the crankcase on his Ford engine.

 

Back in the day the Cal Custom air cleaners came with a knock-out plug in the base of the filter and an adapter fitting, and the hose was routed to a grommet in the valve cover.The company I worked for at the time was a Cal Custom WD the valve covers I had on my 327 had the push in cap with a ****** in the valve cover, that hose was routed to the valve cover and air filter base.

 

Here's the link for the page I got the illustration from. It's got a neat idea for drilling the intake manifold, in this case a Chevy, for the installation of a PCV valve. Might be of interest...?

www.stl-vettes.com/.../rebuild-2/zz4/pcv/pcv.htm