Bill, just out of ciriosity, is your motor also blowing/leaking a lot of oil? Do you have to add oil often? I ask as the original 300 in my truck was doing the same & also would blow the PCV valve out of the valve cover (had to zip-tie the thing into place). You may have excessive blow-by like I did. Most likely blown rings or a cracked piston. I haven't had the chance to find out what was going on inside the old 300 as the motor is 1000 miles away (still have it though). Don't know what your situation is, but I really needed a running truck & so instead of pulling the original engine I ended up yanking a running 300 from a wrecked truck & just did an engine swap. I intend to rebuild the original engine later. You could probably do the same & find a decent running 250 to swap in as a lot of guys yank a good running six for a bent 8. Hope this helps & you don't have the bad luck that I had.
Edwin
