Valve cover breathers????

Fathead Racing

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 7
In regards to our collector cars and the way we drive them and maintain the engines this is a bunch of "to do" over nothing. There are passive breather systems that will serve your engine well unless you drive it as a daily driver in all seasons. If you want to take it a step further, use synthetic oil!
 

Skip FIx

Well Known Member
My Pontiac buddy who is a Ford engineer(Ecoboost) feels they(PCVs) are needed even for our part time driven motors.
 

Carmine

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
Carmine There rubber gromets that have perferations on the bottom.Some times thier at places like Advance Auto.You can also opt for the push in breather that has a built in pcv. In my opinion,I'd mount the pcv toward the rear,on the right [passenger] side in the hopes of better getting all this bad stuff out of my motor.

I'm always tring to learn something so I hope you don't mind me asking. Why do you suggest the passenger side rear for mounting the pcv? Why not the middle or front on the valve cover? Why the passenger side vs. the driver side? I have a set of valve covers that I'm just about done with doing over. I haven't drilled any holes yet but I will soon. I want to be as knowledgeable as I can before doing so. Thank you, Carmine.
 

Hardy 1955

Member
Hello
I think I have a possible solution.
From the front exhaust pipe on a PCV valve on an oil separator (old gin bottle with bottle holders in the U.S. version of course, whiskey bottle) and from there to the intake on the carburetor vacuum.
Ventilation is provided by the air filter to the rear port of the Edelbrock intake manifold.
According to GM, the well-known as a positive ventilation.
Hardy
P.S. After the instalation I have virtually no more oil leaks.
 

Don Jacks

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 3
For me Carmine,If you look at later model small blocks,the pcv is on one side,usually l.frt. valve cover,and the breater tube to the air cleaner is on the right rear.This allows more of the crankcase vapors to be drawn from the crankcase.In the case of the "w" engines you have the breather/oil fill at the front,so to get the desired cross flow,I'd SUGGEST[there's always more than one way to skin a cat] using the rt.rear side.Don
 

chevymusclecars

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 5
Personally I would think putting the PCV valve in the right valve cover makes sense so you don't have a hose going through the throttle linkage causing it to hang up. :dunno

My 63 also has a hose that runs from the oil fill tube to the air cleaner which wouldn't hurt.

Bill
 

Don Jacks

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 3
Yeah Bill,theres always that,and if you have power brakes,things can get crowded when it comes time for maintance.
 

Carmine

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
For me Carmine,If you look at later model small blocks,the pcv is on one side,usually l.frt. valve cover,and the breater tube to the air cleaner is on the right rear.This allows more of the crankcase vapors to be drawn from the crankcase.In the case of the "w" engines you have the breather/oil fill at the front,so to get the desired cross flow,I'd SUGGEST[there's always more than one way to skin a cat] using the rt.rear side.Don

Great. Makes sense to me. Thats the way it will be done. Thank you very much, Carmine.
 

Carmine

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
Hi everyone, well, I have the holes drilled in the valve covers and new decals on. They look real good but I do have a question. The baffled grommet fits ok in the hole (around) but there is some movement up and down. It would be the distance between the grooves that hold it in place. I would say its a little sloppy. Can I glue this grommet in place so that it doesn't move or maybe use a silicone on the underside of the valve cover/grommet to take up this movement??? Can vapor escape and become messy or is this really an issue that I shouldn't be concerned about?? It fits well enought that I don't think it will fall through the hole but I would like it a little more secure. Ur thoughts??? Many thanx, Carmine.
 

62impala409

 
Supporting Member 1
Carmine, probably the easiest fix would be to place an "o ring" in the grommet groove to take up the up and down slop. Leo
 

chevy man

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 9
Dont you need baffles in the covers where the grommets go? Otherwise seems to me that it would suck a lot of oil out. :dunno
Ken.....................
 

Carmine

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
Carmine, probably the easiest fix would be to place an "o ring" in the grommet groove to take up the up and down slop. Leo

Great idea Leo. I never thought of an "o" ring. Thanx. Ken, the grommets are baffled. They are made by Morosco and I hope they work.
 

Carmine

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
Just want to say that I went to a car show today and saw a '64 409 in a '57 Nomad. The breathing system certainly got my interest. The only thing this motor had were two breathers, one in each valve cover, that were connected to nothing. Waited for the owner to return to chat with him, but ran out of time.
 

62impala409

 
Supporting Member 1
One reason the drag racers put the vents in the valve covers was to relieve crankcase pressure at high rpm. The PCV system is a much more efficient system for removing crankcase vapor and moisture during normal driving. There was a good reason GM starting using it in '62. Leo
 
Top