I've used an opening system for 4-5 years with a hose to my rear carb with no problem to the carb at all in 8000+ miles. Enclosed is a photo of what I made. It was put on an engine with 3000 miles since rebuild. There is never even a drop inside the side breather from the block and I check or in the white pvc 90 degree fitting you see in the photo. I just checked when it took the photo.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

On your breather setup - I would leave as is with your original hole on the side of the block covered. Ford's original design was for air to enter at the oil filler cap and then be sucked out the road draft tube as you rolled down the highway. Everything open to the air of course and with very little vacuum to actually suck fumes and block pressure out of the crankcase. With what I saw in your video, your air to clean out the crankcase is now flowing from your valve cover breather and now essentially being sucked out of the oil fill tube via your oil fill cap and the fumes burned by going back through your carb throat and into the intake manifold. If it were me, I would run it for a couple thousand miles like that and see what the results are. Like Miker said, you may want to read the whole PCV thread. Essentially what you have is not as optimal as some of those options discussed but you do have a system that is a tick better than what Ford had originally on the engine.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

If you get the proper PVC valve, you definitely can run it from the valve cover an leave the breather hose the way you have it. Air entering the system should be from the inside of the air cleaner in a closed system.
Your problem as I see it is not only a correct sized PVC valve but having it in a Ford stock valve cover that was never made with a baffle. I believe there were some Ford V8’s that the valve cover caps had the PVC attached to it and it had the baffle in it. No baffling will cause the system to suck a lot of oil. Summit and others sell them for non stock valve covers. If you’ve ever looked at a certain 350 non mentionable Valve cover inside you know what I mean.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

So I guess really what i am interested in is if there are any cons to having a breather in the valve cover. The way i had it set up before was with a PCV valve in the valve cover with a filter cap on that valve with a hose prevision. The hose to that cap went to the front of my edelbrock carb to the PCV port ( located between both air fuel adjustment screws ). i then had a standard filter cap ( no hose ) on my oil fill tube. Would it be better to revert back to that setup? I am now worried the setup i have in the video may be allowing fumes into the top of my carb that may eventually cause trouble. With using the PCV provision on the edelbrock - to the valve cover the fumes bypass the boosters of the carb. My truck does seem to idle slightly better with how i have it set up in the video. The cost to have the 292 and t98 completely rebuilt gave me a slight glimpse at divorce. yes the marital kind. I don't ever want to do anything unhealthy for my beloved engine. Also thank you guys so much with you patience and info. I can never get tired of learning about these amazing trucks.

Blocking the road draft is not the answer, you need positive airflow thru the engine. Positive Crankcase Ventilation - PCV. Read that whole post, it's long but worth it. It addresses location, baffles, PCV valve selections, etc. you can do that with Mummert's cover or the stock one.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

Your truck never came with a PCV system. When new, when you drove the tube cut at a 45 degree angle attached the back of the valley cover on your truck, sucked vapors out of the engine. The end of the tube was down by the starter. The air entered thru the breather on the oil fill tube.
The way you have it now is the air entering the carburetor is sucking the vapor in the engine as you drive with the supply coming from the air vent you installed on the left side valve cover.
What you have is an easy way to keep vapors/smell down on a good running engine; but on a bad blowby engine would really mess up a carburetor.

I have exact system on my 56 292. I still have the road draft tube and it’s where my air comes from. I have the same oil fill breath you have with the hose feeding right in front of the front barrels of the carb. Is it right? I personally don’t care it’s sucking enough to keep my engine compartment clean and no smell. My carburetor shows no negative effect after 4 years.

If you choose to put a PVC valve off a 1962, which would attach at the spot where your road draft tube now goes, and have the vapor go in to the carburetor at that spot the Edelbrock has for it, I would still keep your hose from the oil fill cap and seal off the valve cover...

Nice truck... good luck...

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

No the road draft is blocked off. I had a PCV valve on the valve cover but i felt it leaned my carb out way too much. I even had hose clamps on the hose to restrict the air flow. It would also totally change the exhaust note just on the drivers side so I felt it wasn't a proper setup. I could invest in the valley cover from Mummert that has the PCV provision. It seems to be the ideal setup.

Here's a link to one of many old posts on PCV. Near the end is a diagram of the original Ford system.

http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic144832-1.aspx

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

Do U still have the Road Draft Tube operational?

  

Kent thats all i have is the breather in the valve cover and the oil cap to air cleaner. Is this sufficient for keeping the pressure out of the crank case? I am also curious if it is healthy for the engine to have the valve cover breather. i dont see them on many y-blocks. Thats not a vacuum leak of sorts is it? Thank you