You capped off the vacuum source on the intake manifold for the PCV system and now the engine smokes. Connect the dots.
That rubber hose on the front, side of the valve cover looks short, but it should have connected into the carb air cleaner. Is that not correct?
At idle the PCV system should have a slight vacuum on that hose, drawing fresh, filtered air from the carb air cleaner. Air enters the engine through that hose, collects the crankcase fumes that you saw, goes through the PCV valve into the intake manifold and the engine burns the fumes.
If the PCV hose is bad, replace the hose.
You say it idles best when the mixture screw is 1/4 turn out. What exactly happens when you turn the screw out an additional 1/4 turn?? What exactly happens when you add another 1/4 or 1/2 turn to that and it is at one full turn out????
Alright well why would it matter if the valve cover has vacuum if it is vented into the air cleaner assembly (where it would have slight vacuum anyway)?
It gets too rich when I turn it out and the engine slows (and dies if I turn it out more). If I turn it in, the engine leans and almost dies (unless I turn it in all the way and then it either runs awfully or dies).
