PCV system on a Mustang 1965 1966

Lately, I've had several people ask me about this system, how it works, what is it's purpose, etc...so, here's how that works and why it's important. As the fuel is burned in the combustion chambers of an internal combustion engine, the motor does not burn 100% of the fuel. Most of that unburnt fuel goes out the exhaust, but, some goes past the piston rings down into the crankcase. Also, all of the exhaust gases don't go out the exhaust. Some of that also gets past the piston rings, and again, ends up in the crankcase. As one might imagine, having these combustible gases hanging around in the oil pan can't be a good thing. What they actually do is contaminate the oil, degrade the lubricating qualities of the oil, and cause your motor to wear out a lot quicker than it should. That is with a motor in which everything is as it should be. In a motor that is getting a little tired and has excessive ring clearance, this problem is multiplied and the gases can accumulate quickly enough to actually catch on fire in the crankcase. People have devised different ways of dealing with this problem over the years, but, we'll stick to Ford's solutions. In the Model B Fords, the first cars that had the flathead V8s in them, the solution was very simple. Ford put a hole in the front of the oil pan up near the top and welded a flap in front of it to keep rocks and stuff from bouncing into the oil pan. A very straight-forward idea, but, one that cried out for some modifications. They later developed what was called a road draft tube, which you can find on some of the 64 1/2 Mustangs. This was the same idea, basically a hole to let air in through, but, a hole that road crud couldn't really find it's way through. However, dusty crud could still get sucked in.Next was the positive crankcase ventilation, or, PCV, system. Vacuum is generated by the pistons, so, they put a hose from the base of the carb over to one of the valve covers. The gases that blew by the pistons and wandered into the crankcase get sucked back into the combustion chambers. To solve the problem of the massive vacuum build-up this creates, they put a vented oil filler cap on a hole in the other valve cover. This allows fresh air to circulate through the motor and prevents the build up of the blow-by gases. They put a one-way valve on the hose that goes to the carb to prevent air/fuel mixture from going the wrong way.

A good and useful system, and very easily maintained. All one has to do is clean out the filter in the oilfiller cap to keep it from getting clogged up, and clean the PCV valve occasionally to keep it from getting stuck.

Translating this blog

Good afternoon. I was wandering around cyberspace and I stumbled across this.
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=2&hl=de&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dautolite%2B4100%2Bchoke%2Badjustment%26biw%3D1364%26bih%3D931&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=en&u=http://thecareandfeedingofponies.blogspot.ch/2008/04/carburetor-common-repairs-and.html&usg=ALkJrhigv0N7tFUkWch9SXySCvkGs8HIlA

It appears that some industrious fellow in Switzerland has started translating this blog into German. I do get a fair amount of traffic from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, so, I think that this is a wonderful idea. I just wish that I was able to do that. So, just in case someone would like to maybe translate this blog into Finnish,  Italian, French, Russian or any other language spoken anywhere on earth, please feel free to do so, and you have my gratitude for doing for me what I would do for myself if I was able.

Pre-1964 Autolite 2100 Carburetor Rebuild

Here is a follow-up on the last post. These are the pages from the technical manual that Ford gave to people   learning to be factory-trained service personnel in 1963. This shows how Ford expected their people to go through a carb that was causing problems. If you do what this says to your Autolite 2100 it should function flawlessly. These pages look like they've had the right hand side chopped off, but, if you click on the first on, it will pop up and show the entire page. You can then go through them, save them to your computer, and print them, so that you can have this stuff sitting right beside the carburetor while you are working on it. 

Autolite 2100 Accelerator pump system for 1961-1963

This carburetor was never used on a Mustang by Ford, but, occasionally, one might find that this is what someone has put on their car at some time in the past, and it looks different enough to sort of throw somebody off for a moment. The first picture is a page out of the training manual that Ford gave to the people that were preparing to become factory trained service personnel.

 In this next picture, you will notice that there are what appears to be two holes in the front of the carb instead of the usual one hole for the pump inlet. This is actually a deception. The upper hole is not a hole at all, but is plugged up. The lower hole is the inlet hole. This hole does not get one of those rubbery flap thingies that people are accustomed to seeing.

 In this picture you see that hole drilled down into the top of the pump housing, and, if you look carefully, you will notice a check ball down in the bottom of the hole.

 In this picture, the screw has been placed in that hole with the check ball down inside it. You want to run that screw in far enough to prevent it from leaking, but, not so far that it prevents the check ball from being able to come up and let fuel into the pump housing. How this works is that when you step on the gas, and actuate the accelerator pump, the pressure pushes the inlet check ball down to prevent fuel from just being pumped back into the float bowl, giving it only one place to go, which would be through the cast channel, up into the banjo bolt, and out through the discharge in the booster venturis. This part of the system is the same as the system on the 2bbl carb that Mustang left the factory with.

Putting your 1965/66 Mustang on jackstands

A question that seems to come up occasionally is where are the best spots on the car to place jackstands so that the car will not A) fall on the owner and, B) not be damaged by it's own weight. The best location at the rear of the car is the rear axle housing. Lift the rear of the car by putting the jack under the middle part of the rear axle housing and then place two jackstands on the tube part of the axle housing on the inboard side of the shackle plates that hold the leaf springs onto the axles. 

The best location at the front of the car is not so obvious. The strongest spot for the jackstand is on the frame rail, right behind where the torque box is on a convertible. The coupes and fastbacks don't have the torque box on the 65/66 cars, but, the location for the jackstand is the there. Here is that area, boxed in red, on a convertible.

If you intend to lift the entire car up on jackstands, do the front first, one side at a time, and then do the back. If you raise the back of the car first, and then start lifting one side of the car on the front, this will also lift the car off of one of the jackstands in the back, causing the car to slide off the jackstands and land pretty much on it's side. Not such a good thing to have happen. When you are taking the car off of the jackstands, lower the back first, then do the front one side at a time.


Most folks have enough sense to figure out that they shouldn't try to put a car on jackstands in their yard, or  any other place that is dirt or grass. It is not immediately obvious that  you also shouldn't do this on asphalt. Do NOT place your car on jackstands on an asphalt surface, like the one you find on many parking lots and streets. The feet of the jackstand will pierce the asphalt, slowly sink in for a little bit, and then drop the car on you. Don't be 'That Guy' that people tell the story of.

Replacing valve cover gaskets

I just realized that I had never gotten around to mentioning something that can turn an annoying task into something very quick and simple with one little trick.   The first picture is a motor. Next, I have inserted 6 set screws, 1/4-20, into the holes for the valve cover bolts. You then drop the gasket on after applying whatever  you like for sealing purposes, apply said sealer to the top of the gasket, drop the valve cover on, then remove one set screw with an allen wrench, put the bolt in, remove another screw, insert another bolt, etc... then snug up the bolts to spec. The set screws keep the gasket from creeping around on you while you get the bolts started.

Another person's blog

Hi, everybody. This has nothing to do with an old Mustang, but, a guy that I know that also follows this blog has started a blog. He hasn't posted much yet, but, it does look interesting so far. Here it is. You might or might not agree with him, but, it is at least worth thinking about. Here it is.
http://indefenseofcommonsense.blogspot.com/
The least I can do is put in a cheap plug for him. (insert smiley face here. )