I tried to find a simple diagram of a PCV system to look at but could not find a generic one. (Denny where are you?) The PCV moves air through the crankcase of your engine and needs an inlet and outlet. On a V8 the inlet is usually on one valve cover and can either be just a breather, or can have a pipe or hose that goes to the underside of the air cleaner. The outlet is usually on the other valve cover, and has the check valve in it. That goes to a vacuum source, usually at the manifold or to a plate between the carb and manifold. The check valve is needed in case the engine should back fire, it pushes the check valve closed and prevents any fire from going into the crankcase where it could ignite vapors inside the engine. The intent of the system is to pull fresh through the crankcase where it collects any unburned vapors and routes them back to the intake where they can be burned. It also takes care of any blow by and generally will keep the engine much cleaner. You can read much more detail here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positiv...se_Ventilation

It sounds to me like you have pieces mixed up where you have the connection from your breather going straight to vacuum and you do not have the other end of the system. Just remember it needs an inlet and an outlet to function properly.

Hope that helps you figure it out.

Pat