If I put a valley cover with a built in road draft tube on my engine, I can cover the hole for the road draft tube on the left side of the engine, right?? Any thoughts on which road draft method is better??

When Injustice Becomes Law, Resistance Becomes Duty

You can definately do that. The valley cover system was a later improvement on the Y-Block. There are block off plates around for the lower vent but they can be hard to find. I heard that a VW Beatle fuel pump block off will work. If you want to go a step further you can run a PCV valve in the hole at the back of the cover up to the carb. Usually a large tube at the back of the carb or on a spacer plate under the carb. Chuck

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Budman;

Yes, you can block off the original location of the road draft tube if you are now using a valley pan with the road draft tube. I believe I used a VW fuel pump block off plate on one of my motors which matched the shape and mounting hole location perfectly. You could also make one easily enough out of steel or aluminum. Others may have more ideas.

Another option to consider is to install a PCV set-up in the valley pan instead of using the road draft tube. If you give a little more information about your motor we could make other recommendations.

Rono

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID

If your going to make the change, then I would go the PCV route. If you have a 4BBL carb, then there are kits out there that have all the parts - valve, under carb plate, hose and grommet.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

The engine is a fresh 312 in a '54 Merc Sun Valley that I am restoring. I haven't fired the engine for the first time yet. It currently has a Holly 390 cfm 4-bbl carb. I also have an Edelbrock 553 tri-power set-up and a FM255 manifold with Edelbrock 1404 dual quad carbs. My intent is to get the engine purring on the 4-bbl, then switch to the tri-power or the quads, probably the tri-power. That will be good time to change the road draft system.

BudMan

When Injustice Becomes Law, Resistance Becomes Duty

For variety, I used a cover plate I bought off ebay (they're on there regularly) for the left side block opening... drilled and threaded a hole in it for the screw in type PCV (AC brand), and plumbed it to a nipple I brazed in the bottom of my air cleaner housing (an oil bath style converted to paper element).. the vacuum seems sufficent to draw in the fumes and oil mist, as evidenced by some slight staining on the filter edge, and it's not pushing fumes/smoke out the new cap on my oil fill tube (a sign of a closed or blocked system).

Another reason I plumbed it to the air cleaner is I've no spacer with a port for my two barrel; I didnt want to drill/tap the manifold where it might lean out one of the runners; and I didnt want to bust open the top of the motor to rework the valley cover.

Brian

Cylinder Index = 84

Current Experiment = `57 Tbird, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Brian, I was thinking of doing that too, but wondered if it was better to draw the fumes from the top of the block or the bottom. You evidence suggests that it works at the bottom of the block. Good to know.

Mark

1956 Mercury M100
1955 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan
Delta, British Columbia