Stirring up a hornets nest

Those new black plates are on everything now, even modern muscle..BUT none I have seen look '65' original with the old 3 letters, SPACE, 3 numbers CA format. Even if you custom order it to match that format, they run the 6 digits together.

As for the little 273.. Im a user and a current owner (273/2) and past owner of a 273-4. My 273-4 spun a bearing so I swapped everything 273-4 sans pistons and crank over to a 318 short block. Even @ low compression, that 318 trounced the 273/4 performance wise.
The 273/4 had 235 HP @ 5200/260 tq at 4000 while the 2bbl had 180 HP @ 1800/ 260 tq at 1600. The "no respect" '68 318 workhorse had 230 HP at 4400 and 340 tq at 2400, all at flywheel..and that was a 2bbl! . Does the smaller 273 rev faster? I think the /2 pistons are close in weight with the /4's a little heavier.
So the guys look at your 273 and tell you to upgrade. Lie to them and tell them its a stroked 340 to 422cid with 273 badges. Just dont try and back that up.