I've obtained an original rear vent style engine Valley Cover, with the intent of a PCV conversion. After cleaning it up & drilling out the downdraft tube attachment, I noticed that the  baffle box is somewhat shallow. When I loosely trial fitted a common PCV valve I had on hand, it bottomed out in the box, at the outlet. Does the baffle box need to be modified for clearance & or oil control ?. I went to J. Mummerts site & looked at his rear vent unit  that he sells & the baffle box appears to have a small extension on the bottom of it it, possibly for clearance or oil control? If I recall vaguely, some time back, someone recommended a PCV valve for a model of SBF 289 possibly, but what model # or year ? Then there's the hole grommet needed, which is quite large at about 1-1/4" in diameter. Is there one readily available that fits without mods?. Any info appreciated, thanks         


Paul

Casco makes a pricy kit ($69.00) for pcv conversion.  It has all the parts you need for the valley cover, gromment, valve, hose, and carb spacer.   Their part number 6758AA for 55-56 and 6758A for 57 and later 4bbl.

Hello Paul,

I recently completed a PCV installation on my 57 Fairlane with 292 and 2-barrel carb. I bought a PCV valve from Rockauto for a 1966 Fairlane with 289 engine. The PCV valve had the correct flow direction to insert into the valley pan grommet (can't remember exact price, but around $5.00). I purchased a grommet on Ebay (came in a package of 2) that fit the valley pan hole. The grommet diameter for the valley pan hole is 1.25" with an inside diameter of .75" to fit the PCV valve.

The valley pan I used was for a T-bird engine with the rear draft tube location. I did not have to "deepen" the bottom cover under the PCV valve because the grommet actually spaces the PCV valve upward slightly and you need very little clearance at the bottom of the PCV valve to come up with an equal area to the 3/4" diameter of the PCV valve. The space I had was around 1/4" and that is more than equivalent to the PCV valve opening. (the area of a 3/4" diameter tube is approx 0.44 sq. in and the open area under the tube (based on the tube circumference times the 1/4" space) would be more than 0.44 (about 0.58 sq. in). One modification I did to the valley pan was to braze a sheet metal plug over the hole in the bottom cover that was directly in line with the opening for the PCV valve. I think this hole was originally there to hold the draft tube, but it would provide a direct oil path to the PCV valve if left open. There is another hole in the bottom cover that the pan mounting bolt passes through and that one has to be left there but is pretty much covered by the mounting bolt and not in line with the PCV valve.

I drilled and tapped a hole in the intake manifold just behind the carburetor (using a 1/8" NPT tap) and then installed a 90 degree fitting that would accept the 1/2" ID hose from the PCV valve. This made for a nice, short hose routing from the PCV to the intake manifold and a clean installation. I took several pictures, but I have not had much luck attaching pictures to this site. I would be glad to email them to you if you would like. The last thing to complete the installation was to make a cover plate to go over the original draft tube mounting hole in the lower left portion of the block (just behind the fuel pump). This was pretty easy (used 1/8" steel and cut out to match the hole).

The PCV seems to be about the right size for my 292 engine. The engine runs great at all road speeds and doesn't seem to have any vacuum issues (I checked the idle vacuum and vacuum at higher speeds after the installation and it seems to be normal). The best thing is the nice, dry bottom of the engine after a drive (the old draft tube seemed to spit up a bit) and the lack of the "stinky" garage after a drive due to gas fume smell.

I also have the "extra" grommet that came in my Ebay package with absolutely no use for it, so if you want it I would be glad to mail it to you (gotta have your address).

Good luck with your installation.

Dave

G' rod; The Casco information is appreciated, unfortunately as far as I know, they don't have any direct outlets in western Canada. So I'd have to import it, which would run the cost up even more. But thanks anyway..

Paul

Paul,
I didn't think about the privacy issues. You can email me at
millerdb2@hotmail.com with address.

Dave

If you get the y block magazine there is a good article in there about PCV conversions... wonder who wrote it????

If you need me to, I can email it to you also.

dan

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

Daniel: I have the Y-Block Magazine, but hadn't gotten to your article yet. Your article is well written & illistrated, but it took me quite a time to find the basic valley cover locally &  unfortunately it didn't come with the T pot shaped adaptor piece. I'd never seen either part in person before & don't expect to find the adaptor locally, any time soon. Sadly, in part due to very high land values in my general area, which is in the vicinity of Vancouver British Columbia, most of the Salvage Yards that kept older parts, have closed up in recent years or only handle parts up to 10 or 15 years old now. Unfortunately, those vintage parts we want are largely gone locally..  So, "oldave" has an alternate method that should work, so I'm going to take him up on his offer. Thanks anyway.         


Paul

if you live near the border,get a mail box in blain. the napa dealer down town blain charges 16.00 per year,2.50 per pickup. they ar open at 7am which makes for no line ups. as a bonus he gives a discount on parts. i had 2 cyl heades shiped ther so it workes well. (i live in cloverdale get my parts cheap gas and save some money. cliff tate 

Cliff: I'll keep that info in mind.. Thanks


Paul

No problem - sorry I could not be of more help to you. I hope it goes well for you. I know the PCV conversion has always been a good idea for any Y block.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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