New intake setup on slide carb 17.5 tecumseh

I noticed when I took my air intake off the carb there was dirt inside the carb. I have this intake I made out of a radiator hose from a ford 8n and it snorkels up from the carb to up by the top of the motor. I think the dust is coming in from where I put the hose barb for the PCV hose in a hole I cut in the radiator hose on the intake and put a bunch of silicone all around it. The silicon keeps cracking so I am wondering if I can buy one of those metal performance breather filters from the auto parts store that would go in the valve cover on a old v8 and just hose clamp the PCV hose onto that, or if I can even just leave the PCV hose dangling there. Thanks!

You can leave it dangling but it is better to have something on the end. Another option is a generic inline fuel filter, I think 1/2 would work. Ziptie it to something and it oughta do the job.