Crabby, there is a baffle that is on the inside of the valve cover that prevents oil from being directley sucked into the carb or intake from the PCV.
My dad always told me to look for the obvious and always replace the cheapest parts first. Example I had a 350 with a TH350. It was noisy like a rod was knocking. Got worse as time went on. Was about the yank the motor when a buddy said "I bet it's loose torque converter bolts" I listened to him and sure enough thats all it was.
