Trying to un-street-rod my engine compartment...

So, when I first got my '55 Chevy, I was stupid and bought some street rod parts that I now regret.

I have since seen the error of my ways (I didn't know about the HAMB back then!), and I want to make my engine compartment fit the rest of the car.

Here's a current pic of the car:



It has bit of a 60's vibe to it, and the interior matches pretty well IMHO.

The engine compartment just looks like crap, though. I had purchased some ball-milled valve covers, a way-too-tall K & N filter, and put these stupid braided hose covers on everything.

Since the picture below, I have painted the engine black, put some new plug wires on, and gotten rid of all the braided hoses.

Here's a photo of what it looked like BEFORE I did all that:



The only thing standing in my way now is the air cleaner and the valve covers. I have a set of original valve covers on the way, they look like this:




I will be painting them black with a silver script to match the motor.

I'll deal with the air cleaner later, my question is about breathing. My SBC has (and needs) a PCV in one valve cover and a breather in the other. I think that's pretty well been established as the best way to run things on SBC's without the draft tube in the block or the oil filler tube in the manifold. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

My first idea is to weld a small pipe (hidden hear the firewall) to each valve cover and connect them with a hose, and maybe connecting the PCV and breather to this. I would try to keep it all out of site, and I would have to find a way to baffle the valve covers.

Has this been done, and does anyone have any pics of something like this?

Thanks!

 

Better get rid of all that fake-braided line crap...I think its starting to give me a rash

 

Read his post he already did!!!!!!!

 

what are you going to do about the oil fill. i would maybe run some late 60's early '70s valve covers with the pvc and oil cap in the covers then run a 60's dual snorkel air cleaner.

 

why??? you dont need to do all that... if you use some 90deg angle breathers such as the moon ones or old offy ones.. you can fill oil through those and drill a hole in the side and run your pvc line off the side of the breather... seen it done on a 350 dressed in vette finned covers...

 

Paint that coil black, get rid of the billet!!!--pulleys, trans dip stick, etc

 

If you can properly baffle them then you could do what you suggested and run a pcv valve to one valve cover, and a breather to the other. Did you search the hamb for other threads about this? we've discussed it several times

 

This would look better

 

Just curious, but why paint the engine black? What's wrong with original chevy color from 55? Others have answered the pcv question. What are you gonna do with the extra doors?

 

Dress It Up Like A Nice 283 Or 327 Red And White With Some Fins.... That Would Look Real Nice.

 

To answer your original question - I don't see any reason that wouldn't work. You could also get a fill-through intake manifold and drill for a PCV valve in the back (which has been discussed several times on here: you use a 90-degree PCV valve from a '65 Corvette). Good on ya for updating, too many guys just forget about it.

Here is a link to a decent discussion we had on this topic once.

-Dave

 

i like going to the swaps and buying old crappy chrome parts valve covers,air cleaners,timing covers for sbc and you can pick it up cheap for a buck or two sand blast and paint the same color as the block it looks real nice when all done

 

Yep, that's already done.

The coil has been replaced with a solid chrome one. The only billet pulley is the crank pulley, and I'll get to that later. The trans dip stick is now hidden, and once I drop in my new tranny it will go away anyway.

Because this is my daily driver, and it frequently gets dirty. Black is easier to deal with...and I LIKE it black. The extra doors get used frequently hauling band equipment and my my six month old son around - so they aren't going anywhere!

Guys, this car is never going to look "period correct" by everyone's standards, I'm just trying to get the really dumb stuff out of there. Because of the previously-mentioned six month old, I no longer have a budget for shiny/cool parts, so I'm doing this on the cheap. That's why I went with the original-style covers. Plus, I think they look great!

So, if I drill a small hole in the rear of one cover and hook up the PCV, and get a breather on the other, it should work.

Back to my main question - does anyone have any examples or pics of this I could use as a guide? I'm sure I'll need to baffle whatever holes I drill in the valve covers, any tips on that?

 

Take it to "What A Burger" and trade out with the guys that show up there.