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I live in Arizona and had to do a bonded title on my 1979 f150 400 v8 4x4. I passed emissions but failed inspection because they engine doesnt have a PCV, it has a breather. They also indicated it doesnt have a closed air system. I was curious if anyone has all these things on their trucks and if so what the set up looks like. I looked and dont see an issue with the air system and dont see much difference between PCV or breather, but was hoping to see other peoples set ups. Also requiring a catalytic converter, and was looking for recommendations on one.
ALL vehicles sold in the US from circa 1966 have PCV, so either the inspector didn't know what to look for (somewhat common on older vehicles), or it was removed by a previous owner.
Upper pic: 1977/79 F100/350 351M/400 // 6A666 is the smog valve.
You'll need to assemble a "closed crankcase ventilation system" where fresh and filtered air is drawn from the air cleaner housing, then into the crankcase, and then evacuated by vacuum for introduction into the intake stream for combustion as part of the air/fuel mixture.
Catalytic converter? If AZ accepts aftermarket ones, then pick up any that spec'ed for your system. Magnaflow offers a series of them.... In CA, replacement cats have to be approved by the State for your specific vehicle.
Your motor will be happier too. So, fresh air through a filter enters from the air cleaner into one valve cover, the hot gasses get passed across the motor to the other valve cover, through the PCV and into the intake, usually on a nipple below the carb. The "closed" setup needs to have the intake air come through the air cleaner housing so when the motor is off any sort of back flow is re-directed toward the carb where it might get sucked up on next start rather than venting to atmosphere, under the hood, through the breather. Not sure how effective the old setups were being "closed" but a simple breather by itself with no PCV on the other side isn't doing much.
By "closed air system" they may mean just the air cleaner assembly itself. If an aftermarket open filter housing is used, that often fails on inspection because it can't retain any vapors inside the housing (from the throat or the flow bowl(s)) to be used again by the engine rather than leaking out into the atmosphere.
The PCV is sort of "closed" by definition, so I bet they meant the air cleaner.
And like they said sdrsprague, a PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) is an absolute boon to engines and air quality everywhere. Helps the engines stay cleaner inside longer (a LOT longer) then just a passive breather.
Definitely get the PCV valve specified for your engine, and if needed the proper grommet for the valve cover. It "might" fit the one you have now with the breather pushed into it, but maybe not. Most parts stores will have a selection.
By the way, you have some pictures of this setup? Like Bill said the guy may not have known enough about the aftermarket to know if he was looking at a simple breather, or one of the fancy aftermarket valves that looks like a breather.
Then again, it sounds like you know what they look like and could tell if it's right or wrong. Or based on the diagrams shown.
Then again, again... We just like to see pics of everybody's trucks anyway! Especially under the hood in my case.
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