nailhead; valley pan road draft tube vs valve cover breather

[atch]

1963 401 nailhead;

i bought an early valley cover with road draft tube connection and early valve covers with no vents/breathers in them.

i've assumed all along that if i welded an oil filler into the valley cover and ran a pvc from the road draft tube connection that i would have a workable system.

is this correct? why or why not?

btw; i've got all the original '63 401 stuff, but prefer the clean valve covers.

[williebill]

Early nailheads,like 53,54,maybe later,had the oil fill in the valley cover.You can modify yours to take the oil fill,and leave the valve covers intact.I think you're OK with the PCV valve as you described.Not sure if anybody makes a finned valley cover with the oil fill already installed,if so,you can always sell the later version on Ebay.They're on there all the time.

[williebill]

Dang,just read your post again,guess you have a steel cover,not the finned one.If you want to stay with steel,just look for the earliest cover,it'll have the oil fill in it already.Even though the 264/322,and the 364 are all a little different in width,and the 401/425 are even wider,I think the same valley cover works on all,just sits a litle different..

[Fraz]

So you're closing off the road draft tube, putting in a PCV valve instead, and modifying the former draft tube to serve as an oil filler. Sounds like it'd work to me.

[atch]

thanx guys

[TagMan]

atch,
I used the finned aluminum valley cover from O'Brien Truckers which didn't have a road draft tube in it. I bored a hole in it to match the stock cover location and then replicated the stock baffle box out of aluminum, filled it loosely with coarse steel wool like the original and welded it to the bottom (inside) of the finned cover as the original was and then insalled the original road draft tube. Looks & works good.
-Tag

[zman]

The aftermarket covers are all the same cause they are flat. The recessed stock ones only work correctly on their respective families. 264/322, 364, 401/425.

[atch]

zman,

can you elaborate a bit? do you mean that the older valley cover won't fit on my 401? interference? tell me more, please.

[atch]

looks like zman is away from his computer. does anyone else know of a fitment problem with an early valley pan and a later engine?

[zman]

Actually I was working most of yesterday, who woulda thunk it.
But I looked at the stock covers for my 425 and for my 364. They're made out of stamped steel and have a lip and sit in the valley. The two I have are close to the same width so I think the 364 and 401/425 ones may be interchangeable. I didn't have a 264/322 to check so I fired off an email. I was told that the 264/322 valley pans are noticeably different width wise. Now wether there is enough of a lip on it to fit on the 401/425 or 364 I'm not sure. The guys on the Nailhead list say that the reason the aftermarket (finned) covers fit all of them is because it's flat with no lip. It merely sits on the valley rather than having the piece that sinks into the center. I was trying to find a pic that illustrated this but seem to have only pics of finned ones on my work computer...

[atch]

velly, velly, intellesting...