Looking for a road draft tube (breather) for a 1950 F1 226. Anyone have an extra one laying around?

 

I don't, but will advise you that you will want the bolt that holds it on too. My memory is that it is a bit specialized and you will probably not find an easy substitute at the local hardware store.

 

Yep, I have one that came off the original engine of my '51 with a 226.

It comes with the long screw and the mid-point clamp too. And a healthy coating of genuine 50-year-old road grease and grime to prevent rusting at no extra charge.

PM me for details if this is what you need.

Tom

 

I could use the midpoint clamp if anyone else has one.

Dan

 

This is what I used. Works great. Secured by a bolt in the oil pan.

 

[QUOTE=Jolly Roger Joe;14284796]This is what I used. Works great. Secured by a bolt in the oil pan.

Thanks. That's pretty much what I figured I'd use if I couldn't find an original clamp.

 

PM sent. Thanks!

 

It's the same as a radiator clamp.

The road draft tube is the same 1948/51 226 (truck and car) & 1950/53 254.

 

Bill. as always you are a great source of information!


Tom

 

I guess it's the little bracket (#6788) that's unique. Should be easy enough to make one.

 

EAA-6788-B .. Bracket-Crankcase Ventilation Tube / 1948/51 226 & 1950/53 254 / Obsolete

ANTIQUE AUTO SUPPLY in Arlington TX has 15 = 817-275-2381.

 

i converted a 272 Y block over to a pcv/breather system. stopped the oil drips on the floor issues.

 

Not sure how to do that with a flathead 6 or 8.

 

on the flathead, you could mount the breather tube upside down. shorten it to about 3-4 inches. build or buy a small metal funnel to increase the breather tubes size, to double that the original. weld a flat piece on top with a hole in the center for a grommet and a pcv valve. weld the funnel to the vent tube. install the modified vent tube, pcv valve and hose upward toward the carb.
**** using a large vacuum source such as what you would use for a brake booster.
on a flatty, you may need to build or buy a spacer plate for under the carb. it will need at least a 3/8 pipe sized fitting for you to use a 1/2" or 5/8" inch vacuum hose for the pcv valve.

make sure you have a filtered air inlet for the crankcase/valve inspection covers.. a vented oil fill cap will work. otherwise you will need to modify a different valve adjustment cover, preferably toward the front of the engine for a air vent. i would use a second shorter vent tube, to prevent oil getting into the vent hose and making it deteriorate. newer vehicles use a tube from the clean side of the air cleaner to the valve covers. in this case the new modified inspection cover.
so now you have one cover for air inlet or a vented oil fill tube and a modified upside down breather tube with a pcv valve.
one thing to note: the flatty has a large vent tube. you may be able to just weld a flat piece of metal with a hole in the center, to the shorter tube. the air inlet doesn't have to be large, as you only need a 1/2" vent hose for proper breathing. the large vent tube is designed for a large amount of buildup of oil and dust and still work. with a positive air displacement, the tubes can be much smaller....

 

In the past I've been a big proponent of converting to PCV, and ran one for 8+ years. Then this winter I installed an air-fuel ratio (AFR) wideband oxygen sensor in my exhaust to tune a new carb. I immediately saw on the wideband that to get a good idle, I had to set the idle mixture screws fairly rich (to account for air coming in thru the PCV). Surprisingly, I could see the idle fuel system is in play well into the cruise range, in fact dominates cruise fuel ratios. An almost imperceptible change on the idle screws made a very noticeable change in cruise AFR. So I had to sacrifice cruise economy to get a clean idle while using PCV.

I also discovered that 8 years prior, when I asked for a Buick 3.8L V6 PCV valve, the idiots at the store gave me one for a 5.0L Ford (I should have recognized it!), so it was flowing way too much air. I substituted a PCV from a Toyota that was recommended on Ford Barn, and it was much improved, but I still found the same trade-off between idle and cruise ratios. I swapped my draft tube back on, and Bingo! My AFR's across the board were steady, and cruise was economical at idle screw settings that gave a smooth idle at 550 RPM. The older carbs are just not sophisticated enough without going into significant changes to account for a PCV's flow while providing economical cruise MPG.

So much as I hate to be a "bad citizen", I'm back to running a draft tube. My engine is freshly rebuilt and there is very little coming off the draft tube under any conditions I can see.