1965 mopar 273 heads

saskatchewan said

Hi

This may sound like a strange question, but, is it possible to swap later 318 or 360 heads onto an old 1965 or earlier 273? My thinking is with respect to the issue of older "soft" valve seats and problems finding a four barrel intake manifold.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Possibly not. Some of the early 273s had a different angle for bolting on the intake manifold than the later ones. All of the LA heads from 66 on have the same bolt angle. IDK when the change was made, end of MY or a running change during the 65 model year. This does not affect the heads fitting, but if the existing heads have the earlier LA bolt angle, the the intake will not fit the newer heads.

The 318 and 360 heads have different intake passages. This may affect the selection of intake manifolds.

If there is an issue with hood clearance and a Commando air filter housing with a modern dual plane manifold, you can change the air filter element. The Commando air filter is taller but is the same diameter as the slant six using the round black housing that looks like an unchromed Commando one.