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The early valve covers have no provision for PCV > no hole for the grommet and PCV and worse, nothing to prevent the PCV from sucking oil into the intake manifold. If you turn the later covers upside down and look inside, you see a metal enclosure that fits between two rocker arms. There’s some material inside that collects the oil and allows it to return by gravity before the PCV sucks it up. There are several “fixes” for this problem and they don’t work.
You can use old valve covers ( like the early Corvette finned aluminum sans PCV, or old Mickey Thompson aluminum) if you use an old intake manifold. They have a breather on top of a tube located next to the thermostat housing. I think you can buy the breather that accepts a PCV (a hole in the top for the PCV and no holes underneath. You may still be able to buy an aftermarket intake manifold for the old 265-327 which bolts onto the 350 and allows you to set it up to look like an older small block. P.A.W. used to carry an Edelbrock Performer that had the provision for the breather tube. They may still make these. I have seen these mounted on 350s and was told they work fine, but I wouldn’t buy one without asking Edelbrock if they work on a 350.
Also, you can get finned aluminum valve covers for early 1970s Corvette that look great and have the provisions for the PCV.
Bottom line is you ought to run the correct valve covers unless you have money to burn and desperately want the 350 to look like an old small block with that big breather tube. There are a lot of aftermarket valve covers for your 350. Check out Summit, P.A.W. and the Chevy High Perf catalog.
BTW I did try to use old M/T valve covers on a 350 so I know a lot about what doesn’t work. Been there > done that. I sold the old M/T valve covers for$50 and bought nice new ones that worked fine.
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