Carb leaking and PCV Hissing

[DeezNCSU]

This may be novice stuff I'm asking about here but I'm learning as I go...

I cranked my 75 today and found that I had some gas dripping from the bottom of the carb onto the intake on the passenger side and that my PCV valve was hissing louder than I remember. It idled and revved fine but if I put my finger over the PCV valve, the idle dropped. I'm guessing these two are somehow related but wasn't sure. Does this sound like the carb needs a rebuild and/or new gaskets? I wasn't sure if there was some kind of overflow on the carb causing the leak, can't really see exactly where it's coming from. Not really sure where to start.

It's a 302 with an Edelbrock 1404 carb with manual choke and an Edelbrock intake. I can add pics if needed.

 

[blubuckaroo]

One nice thing about Edelbrock carbs is the fuel bowls have no place to leak. If the car is still running, I wouldn't suspect the bowls are overfilling. Check the fuel inlet to the carb to see if it's leaking. It's on the passenger side.
The hiss? well, it could be a normal sound from the PCV valve. After all, it's just a metered vacuum leak.

 

[Fairlane514]

I have had Edelbrocks leak from the throttle shaft on the passenger side when the floats were set wrong and overfilling the bowls.

I checked the float levels (factory settings) and they were way off. I set them properly and the leaking stopped and it didn't load up etc. at idle.

 

[savage]

x-2 on checking floats, They are easy to check and adjust, and yes ,if you plug the pvc valve it will change the idle speed.