Breather/PCV setup 1979 Bonanza

[irk_miller]

The truck is a 1979 Bonanza.  The motor is a 1987 350 (possibly Camaro). 

I'm pretty sure I have the stock A/C setup from 1979.  We dropped a 350 motor in with an Edelbrock intake.  The rear bracket for the A/C compressor bolts to the intake proper, so it all appears to be a match.  However, I can't find a breather cap that fits under the bracket.  To compensate, I retrofitted a plastic GM PCV elbow from O'Reilly's, cut the barb off the end and forced a motorcycle crankcase breather filter onto the elbow.  The filter's inlet is smaller than those in the typical caps.  So, my question is: How precise does the air flow have to be through the breather cap.  Is this setup decent, despite it's lack of pretty; or is there a cap out there with a lower profile to fit under the bracket? My inclination is that this setup is still too restrictive and is encouraging a rougher idle and could be robbing power.  I have a street performer cam in here, so it's definitely wanting to suck more air than stock. 

[LTZ C20]

I should point out that the PCV is supposed to be plumbed back to the carburator and a seperate breather either sucks in fresh air thru a filtered breather or pulls air from the air filter box.

[irk_miller]

I should point out that the PCV is supposed to be plumbed back to the carburator and a seperate breather either sucks in fresh air thru a filtered breather or pulls air from the air filter box.

PCV is on the other cover plumbed to carb and brake booster.  Would I get better performance running a carb air filter that can be plumbed with a line to the valve cover instead of the separate breather?  I assume that is the missing piece in this setup over stock. 

[LTZ C20]

You can see in this photo, directly in the middle. The chrome thing is just a shiny "elbow", the rubber hose then routes from the chrome thing to the air filter box, it hooks to a small plastic tray with a cloth filter. Here it draws air in.

On the other side of the engine, the pcv valve has a hose that runs from it to the carburator (throttle body in my case) the vacuum draws the valve open, venting the crank case.

Putting a breather on the pcv valve doesn't do anything, the valve remains closed and this creates excess crank case pressure. That can create issues such as excess blow by of oil past the piston rings into the combustion chamber and other issues.

[LTZ C20]

I should point out that the PCV is supposed to be plumbed back to the carburator and a seperate breather either sucks in fresh air thru a filtered breather or pulls air from the air filter box.

PCV is on the other cover plumbed to carb and brake booster.  Would I get better performance running a carb air filter that can be plumbed with a line to the valve cover instead of the separate breather?  I assume that is the missing piece in this setup over stock.

Oh, never mind then. Like I stated above, from the factory, a hose plumbs the valve cover to the air filter.

[irk_miller]

I should point out that the PCV is supposed to be plumbed back to the carburator and a seperate breather either sucks in fresh air thru a filtered breather or pulls air from the air filter box.

PCV is on the other cover plumbed to carb and brake booster.  Would I get better performance running a carb air filter that can be plumbed with a line to the valve cover instead of the separate breather?  I assume that is the missing piece in this setup over stock.

Oh, never mind then. Like I stated above, from the factory, a hose plumbs the valve cover to the air filter.

Ah, but your breather is on the passenger side.  Correct?  That's what I needed to see.  I've been doing internet searches and coming up with everything showing the breather on the drivers side.  Thanks for this.

[LTZ C20]

Correct. In reality, it doesn't not matter, the engine does not differentiate between sides, there's nothing internal that will make one way or the other important.

Factory setup is vent tube from valve cover to air box on the right and pcv to carb on the left. As long as you have these parts your fine, it does not matter which side they are on. If you have factory parts, it's easiest to just hook it up factory.