PCV system

I dont want to run a regular PCV on my new 340 iif I can get away with out it. Any recommendations a decent breather system for my MOPAR Valve covers or is a standard PCV about my only option. i am not worried about emmisions there is no state inspection in AL.

I would run the PCV with a good breather since your car is a street car. You could get a little exotic with a vacuum pump, or an evac system to your collectors or.......just stick with the PCV and breathers :wink:

You gotta have something more than just breathers - This is why they call it positive crankcase ventilation... :D This affects more than just emissions & could lead to oil leaks, oil consumption, etc.

Truth is, the PCV system is the neatest, most efficient way to make this happen on a street engine. Pan-evac & pumps are coll but the stuff of race cars.

OK I will drill the valve cover for a PCV I was just trying to get by with out doing that. I already have the gromet for it was just looking for an alternative.

is the PCV a must on a street car cuz i dont hav one! how bad do i need one?

If you start driving around fast and keep up a lot of rpm, the pressure in the crank case builds up and starts pushing oil out where ever it can. Like around the damper, breathers, valve covers, etc. And if you're trying to get all the horsepower you can, just think about the pistons trying to move down in the bore with pressure in the crank case holding it back. May not be much, but its enough to slow you down.

could i run one PCV and one Breather on ether side of eachother?I have one breather on the drivers front and there is a mopar cap on the pass. sid rear valve cover!

You could just add a PCV and put a twist on breather in place of the cap.

ad it how by drilling a hole in the cover or putting one where the cap is now?

You could try adding a grommet for the PCV were the breather is now. If you start seeing oil seeping around your damper or other places, add another breather.

cool thanks! Ill look into that for sure i need all the power i can get out of my 318! :twisted: now where does the PCV valve go other then the valve cover like where do i get the vac. from my carb or what?

Most carbs have a large vacuum port on the throttle plate. Its usually the one thats capped off :lol:

The PCV is an emmisions thing only! Trust me it was in the emmisions section last year at school. The main issue with a PCV is when you go away from stock how can you figure how you need it to flow? I was running mine and the Speed Demon did not like it one bit so right from Don at FBO I was told NOT to run the PCV. You wotn have any pressue in the crankcase provided you have a breather on either side. PCV's haven't been around forever. Back in the day it was just a road draft tube. How many race cars have PCV's?

But race cars run either a vacume pump or a E-Vac system. And E-vec systems dont work well with exhaust systems.

OK who is the PCV God?? It would seem that a standard vent cap would meet the rewuirment of releasing the crankcase build up and prevent back pressure and blow out but if nit them what does that little PCV do with the Vac and how does it prevent it from backing up is just with the Vac it sucks out the pressure? I am not worried about emissions at all but I dont want any blow by so what is my best bet. i have the Mopar Alum Valve covers so to do anything other than a vent cap i will have to drill so talk to me.

what ever helps my 318 run its best im up for so tell me whats up and the best for my set up

Mike your 318 is already set up for a pcv aint it??If you got one no worries but mine is all brand new and i am at the point to make a decission weather to pop my valve covers cherry or not. Did you replade you covers??

The PCV is only a metered vacum leak no more no less. The main issue is when you change cam specs and lose vacuum how do you know what your pcv should flow? Maybe find the amth formula then find a pcv valve and your set. For me I run Duel breathers on my 340 with no issues at all. Remember back in the day when the PCV didn't exist. I dotn think guys where popping the dipstick outta the tube and pushing oil seals where they? The PCV draws the crankcase vapors which contain envionmentally harmful unburned Hydrocarbons and sends them back through the intake and combustion chamber to be burned again so nothing can leak into the atmosphere. If you really want I can dIg out my tech books from school and quote things for you.

Chad i have the mopar cast ones just got them the black ones look at the pics of my motor on the other page!

the guy i bought the car from told me that it runs better with a quart low, if it has 5 quarts, it leaks... could this be because of the pressure in the case like you guys are talking about? maybe my breather is plugged up? it has a tube the goes from the drivers side valve cover to a breather on the passenger's side.

Check where the leak is coming from, could just be a bad pan gasket or maybe a small crack/hole in the pan.

I don't know s**t about PCV except for the fact that when mine was broken I definitely lost HP (and I don't have any to spare!) and when I replaced it she was much happier. Seemed to bother her more on the low end.

how do you know if the PCV is broken?

whitezombie, on jegs.com it says the black wrinkle finish is for 383/440 only, and the chrome ones are for the 318/etc, do they fit well? i was going to get the mopar performance breather kit (only in black 'wrinkle' finish) and the valve covers to match it (once i get to the engine work.)

Only reason it ran poor was because it was a broken PCV valve aka vacuum leak, msot cars do run bad with a vacuum leak. But hey I'll stick with ym duel breathers in any case.

how do you know if the PCV is broken?

whitezombie, on jegs.com it says the black wrinkle finish is for 383/440 only, and the chrome ones are for the 318/etc, do they fit well? i was going to get the mopar performance breather kit (only in black 'wrinkle' finish) and the valve covers to match it (once i get to the engine work.)i got mine from jegs they where bank but there bad ass i hav the black rinkle ones they fit great i think there better fited then the stock crap ones!the polised ones look good too my buddy has them on his 340 they look sweet but i like the black more just me though!

OK who is the PCV God?? It would seem that a standard vent cap would meet the rewuirment of releasing the crankcase build up and prevent back pressure and blow out but if nit them what does that little PCV do with the Vac and how does it prevent it from backing up is just with the Vac it sucks out the pressure? I am not worried about emissions at all but I dont want any blow by so what is my best bet. i have the Mopar Alum Valve covers so to do anything other than a vent cap i will have to drill so talk to me.

If you are talking about the black mopar alum covers you don't need to drill. If you take a ball peen hammer and give the knock out area few firm taps it pops out. You may have to take a small file and clean it up a bit. On mine on the passenger side I have a KN breather that fits right into the cap hole. Than on the drivers side I have the oil cap and PCV valve.

OK Mopardude

I will give it a try, but if I FXXX up the $130 Valve covers Im going to be pissed :twisted: I think i am going to look at that Mopar brather set cap and them a PCV .

pcv is not a bad thing, just dont plug it into a intake vacuum port "only"plug it into the carb,otherwize you will be giving 1 or 2 cylinders more of a mixture than the rest.on the street run the pcv, you will not get that oil/ fuel smell that comes from running open breathers.if you hooked up the pcv and the car ran worse, you are probrably running too rich (fuel) of a mixture...the pcv will add blow by gasses to the mixture which will cause richening of the mixture....no mater what anyone does pcv or not make sure you have atleast 2 breathers, or a pcv and at least one breather or you will have high crankcase pressure. think of a gas can...pour the gas out of the filler on the can and it goes slow and gargles (breathes)...then open the vent and it flows faster and un disturbed......just my .02

OK Mopardude

I will give it a try, but if I FXXX up the $130 Valve covers Im going to be pissed :twisted: I think i am going to look at that Mopar brather set cap and them a PCV .

You paid $130 for the black ones? You got ripped. I paid $80 for mine from my dealer.

Well I am not saying my way is the best way. But a mopar guy who knows much more about cars than I will prolly ever know showed me that trick. A few firm taps is all it took me you don't have to bash on them. If you turn the cover over and look at it you can see its domed out in the center and thin on the edges.

whitezombie:
do you have stock heads?
did you get the 383/440 covers, or did you get the valve covers for the 92+ magnum V8?

I dont have black ones I have the polished Alum MOPAR set look like this

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/May/20045288851603960712393.jpg

so I will give it a try. i am going to order a mopar breather cap for on of the oil fill holes and then put in a pcv just to make sure so that should cover it dont yall think.

Those are nice! I think I like those better than my black ones. I see you have excellent choice intakes also. Both my 360's are sporting Air gaps also. If you going show off a pic like that you are going to have to list the specs of it too!

here you go Mopardude

340 Over 40 KB Flat tops Rings file fit to .030 for drags top gland only.
Eagle I beams on the stock steel crank.
Total balance weight 1939.5 a little heavy but not bad for a stock Crank
Deck set with a +.018 on the piston and clearance checked to the head
comes out to about 9.9-1 compression by the math but who knows
Mildon High Flow oil pump and Morroso 8 QT oil pan and pick up
Comp Cam 236 @ 50 495 lift
P&P J heads with 2.02/ 1.60 valves
Comp Steel RR
Comp HI Tech Rods 7.750
Air gap with the BIGs 650 stage 3
Carter Mech street strip pump cleaned up and 6 AN fuel line
MSD with crane HI6 box and coil MSD 8.5 MM wires
powermaster light weight starter
High flow water pump
March Billet Pulleys


anything else I forgot??

whitezombie:
do you have stock heads?
did you get the 383/440 covers, or did you get the valve covers for the 92+ magnum V8?i have stock 318 heads i got the the black ones for the 318 not the new magnum ones cuz the say magnum on them my ram has them though! :lol:

LA heads and Magnum heads use a differant amount of bolts too.

yup they sure do!LOL i tryind to put the LA's on my 360 ram and thats a no no so i bought the truck her own pair

I would definitely run a PCV system on a street car just so you wouldn't have to smell the oil fumes.

here you go Mopardude

340 Over 40 KB Flat tops Rings file fit to .030 for drags top gland only.
Eagle I beams on the stock steel crank.
Total balance weight 1939.5 a little heavy but not bad for a stock Crank
Deck set with a +.018 on the piston and clearance checked to the head
comes out to about 9.9-1 compression by the math but who knows
Mildon High Flow oil pump and Morroso 8 QT oil pan and pick up
Comp Cam 236 @ 50 495 lift
P&P J heads with 2.02/ 1.60 valves
Comp Steel RR
Comp HI Tech Rods 7.750
Air gap with the BIGs 650 stage 3
Carter Mech street strip pump cleaned up and 6 AN fuel line
MSD with crane HI6 box and coil MSD 8.5 MM wires
powermaster light weight starter
High flow water pump
March Billet Pulleys


anything else I forgot??



Nope sounds pretty cool. A lot of your specs and parts are not to far off what I am doing to my 360 right now.

Hope fully she will fire off pretty soon Craig AKA Hawaiiduster is coming up for the fire off so should be a good time, i get this new wiring harness installed and she will be ready to go :D Drop the seats back in and the new autometer gauges and cruise for a day or to the off for final paint and body and then the interior and she will be done.

I can already smell the rubber burning from here :D

lets hope :lol: :lol:

Chad, I had those valve cover's and finding a grommet is tough. The aluminum is pretty thick and I never did find a grommet that would work so I made my own. I have a few twist on breather's I will never use again. If you want one I will ship it to you with the grommet I used. You will also need to make a baffle when you do the pcv. I used an old carb butterfly but and peice of sheet metal will work. I battled with this for 2 year's until I got it so the breather's wouldn't get saturated and drip oil everywhere. If you still haven't got the job done let me know and I'll save you a bunch of hassle.

Chad, I had those valve cover's and finding a grommet is tough. The aluminum is pretty thick and I never did find a grommet that would work so I made my own. I have a few twist on breather's I will never use again. If you want one I will ship it to you with the grommet I used. You will also need to make a baffle when you do the pcv. I used an old carb butterfly but and peice of sheet metal will work. I battled with this for 2 year's until I got it so the breather's wouldn't get saturated and drip oil everywhere. If you still haven't got the job done let me know and I'll save you a bunch of hassle.

Which grommet are you talking about? For the PVC or the breather? I have used the the factory pvc gromments with no problem. I dunno about the breather grommets I ussually use a K&N push-in and and push it into the capped hole.

yup they sure do!LOL i tryind to put the LA's on my 360 ram and thats a no no so i bought the truck her own pair

Zombie you can use LA valve covers on a magnum actually but you have to leave out some bolts and some say that they dont seal well. :wink:

well i have a PCV grommet so I will take it down to the shop and pop a hole in it and go with that and then Order thaqt MOPAR Screw on bottom breather cap to fill the other hole. Hopefully this will take care of all of my problems.

got the valve cover drilled yesterday and orderd the breather cap.

That's an impressive looking power plant Chad. What do you figure for horsie's?

Jack

the rough estimate is somewhere between 390 and 400 hard to say. I would be open to guesstimations from any of these rocket scientist.

So what is with all this catching up to me stuff you've been saying. Damn, were not just in the same ball park, were occupying the same base. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Jack

well i am catching up now, I hope to have here running by the end of the month.

How about by the end of next week :P

Although the PCV system was added as an emmisions control it has other benefits. It does reduce leakage and I think it reduces moisture in the oil too. I have seen one race car that runs both a PCV and evac,I havent checked it out well yet to see how its plumbed.

cool, I went with the PCV based on everyone telling me that it will prevent oil smell. Mostly i was worried about evac thats why she got both, dont need an undue pressure pushing oil out :wink:

Hey Craig I dont see why it wont be running by next week, i called john and he shipped the TTI s today and I called Bill Reiley and he sent me out that Alum radiator on monday, I still want to order that MARCH billet Alt braket and a Magnum Alt but thats not a show stopper.

I have to drill out the floor pan a little where the shifter hump is to make room for the Comp shifter Positive stop bolt and reset it back at TDC to drop the dist in and setup the carb she will be ready to go :D :D once the wiring is straight :wink:

The March alternator brackets are nice, I got one on my engine :D A couple more days and I'll be there. I got my favorite crimper and wire stripper with me so I'll be ready to tackle that wiring :wink:

I am going to order that bracket. Been trying to order a fiber glass hood this morning but the girl at AAR is dumb as a post and the lead time is a month. I am going to give unlimted a call but they sound like assholes on the phone and i tryed rods and rides fiberglass but they only have economy peice says it need more prep work before paint. Looks like I may end up with just the old steel hood for a while.

we are online with a fiberglass hood :D :D Also Johns Cambridge sent me a bottom screw in breather cap from MOPR. Anyone used these are there and problems I need to know about???