PCV Valve

[MoparKiwi]

Hi was having a preventative maintenance snoop under the hood of the 71 polara 440hp and thought 'that pcv valve looks pretty old had done fluid changes and filters, plugs n leads a year back but never looked at pcv.. after reading that its a good idea to change it (cheap part) I attempted to pull the valve. With little effort ops: the brittle plastic snapped off the outlet in the hose.. unfazed by this minor setback I grabbed some pliers that were handy and with less effort than my first attempt it proceeded to snap off the body of the valve leaving only the base barely protruding from the rubber grommet in the valve cover (maybe the message is 'if it aint broke - leave it') anyway concerned that the remaining base might disintergrate and fall through I wisely decided to apply heat (heatgun) to the hard rubber grommet - thankfully this was just the trick and softened the rubber to allow me to remove the base.

Well you might think great so what - my concern is that upon inspecting 'the assembled pieces' I thought hang on wheres the 'valve' part to this thing? what does it look like? what should I be looking for? ... looking with mounting dread at the hole going into my valve cover that I had pulled this from.. so rushed inside ..search cbodies, wiki google etc, can find many pics, all different some - like on my 71 383 polara and 74 440 monaco have a metal base plastic outlet and appear to use a spring in conjunction with valve itself, these are a little more expensive than all plastic but surely better quality? (in saying that ebay shows from $7.95 to $35.00 same part # look identical?) cheaper still summit/rockauto.

I could not find a drawing/diagram or pic showing the internals of my pcv, has anyone taken one apart that looks same as mine or have one they can look at? couldnt sleep thinking I had better pull the valve cover and look.. back to shed dropped a wrench and found a very solid metal bullet of what looked like maybe the mystery guts to this thing.. seemed a snug fit holding the broken pieces together. Great I thought, sorted.. but 'what if'??? please can any one assure me there are no other pieces to this puzzle like a small spring etc?

Also any comments on what pcv is better versus another? upon inspection mine was very clean - no sludge or gunk (ive been told if you shake it and it rattles its good to go?) If it was gunked up can you just use thinners perhaps and soak/blow it out?

Comments welcome- especially the "older Cbody soldiers" that have done some miles.
:sSig_thanks:

 

[MoparKiwi]

PCV pics

heres the pics, last one from 383 polara

 

[Yatzee]

You HAD better pull the cover and look especially if you feel parts are missing. All PCV's are not created equal. The internal pressure spring or slug weight determines how much vacuum is
required to open (usually on deceleration or high RPM's cruising ) Buy an OE replacement or
you might find variations in motor RPM (when idling ) as engine vacuum is diluted.

 

[MoparKiwi]

You HAD better pull the cover and look especially if you feel parts are missing. All PCV's are not created equal. The internal pressure spring or slug weight determines how much vacuum is
required to open (usually on deceleration or high RPM's cruising ) Buy an OE replacement or
you might find variations in motor RPM (when idling ) as engine vacuum is diluted.

Thanks- my posting was a perhaps poor attempt at humor to show (for me anyway) the obsessive and time consuming (just when you think its a one min job) hobby that is loving, restoring, learning, working on these cars. Thought I could save time not pulling cover if someone can confirm this plastic pcv only has the slug weight inside?

Rockauto list about 5 different pcv valves (plastic like mine and a metal based like the one in my 383) that they claim are OE replacement? Interestingly the same part #'s are listed for use in 318 - 440 ??? so is there a right or wrong pcv to use? This is my first 'encounter' with a pcv - now im obsessed with needing to know all about it -
maybe I should see the doc for a magic pill that will stop me thinking about car stuff :thatswck:

 

[70bigblockdodge]

I don't know for sure but if there is a spring in there it is pretty wimpy.

 

[Wollfen]

Im not sure there is a spring as the weight of the slug inside i am pretty sure determines the amount of back pressure required to actuate the unit. I also dont think that there is any difference between them other than the fact that they come from different manufacturers and as such have different construction methods.