Classic/Antique Car Repair: pcv placement, oil filler cap, windshield wiper motor

Question
I have a 56 fairlane (292).
I've been told four ways to correctly hook up a pcv valve.
I have already closed the engine by blocking the draft tube.
Where do I connect the pcv valve and what points do the hose connect to?
Douglas

Answer
There are probably at least 4 ways to do it!  The thing to realize is that all the PCV system does is provide a source of vacuum to suction out the fumes from the crankcase.  The PCV valve is a one way valve, it allows the fumes to be suctioned out, but won't let a backfire or any other source of pressure push flame back into the crankcase, which could cause an explosion of the gasses in there.

The 62 and later cars had a sealed crankcase,  meaning that the road draft tube was eliminated, and the oil fill cap was not vented, and there was an o-ring or other seal on the dipstick tube, so that when the  suction was applied through the PCV valve to a fitting in a hole in one of the valve covers, the suction pulled the fumes out of the crankcase and fed them into the engine intake system, causing the engine to burn those fumes rather than let them stink up the air and the engine compartment.   

The PCV valve has to have a source of intake manifold vacuum - which you can get by teeing into the vacuum line that goes to your power brake booster, if you have one, or to your vacuum windshield wiper motor, if you have vacuum wipers, or anything else that has intake manifold vacuum on it.  The vacuum that goes to the distributor is not the right vacuum line - it has to be connected to the intake manifold or  to a fitting on the carburetor base that has vacuum all the time (not the one that goes to the distributor).   

The other end of the PCV valve can be installed in one of the valve covers, or in an oil filler cap that has provision for a hose coming out the side, or it can go into the old road draft tube (on the crankcase side of the blockage you installed)- any place where it can suction out the crankcase fumes.  Wherever you install it, it has to be sealed around the valve, so that the crankcase remains sealed off from the atmosphere.

When you install this, you will have to adjust the carburetor mixture to compensate for the extra air getting into the intake manifold - it will act like you have a vacuum leak until you do that (meaning it will mess up the idle - make it rough uneven).

Dick