Mid year 273 in 64 Darts?

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Interesting, I am not finding and mention any 273's in the 64 production information dated before or around the August release date. They show up in the 65 information. Could it be the 273 was released sometime near mid year in 64? Of the 64's out there with 273's when were they built?
 
toolmanmike said:
Interesting, I am not finding and mention any 273's in the 64 production information dated before or around the August release date. They show up in the 65 information. Could it be the 273 was released sometime near mid year in 64? Of the 64's out there with 273's when were they built?
Click to expand...


Sometimes it takes a cycle to get the information changed....

I know that they had a change to the owners manuals mid year and we had to make the deadline to submit our changes or it would have to wait until the next revision (6 months)....
 
toolmanmike said:
Interesting, I am not finding and mention any 273's in the 64 production information dated before or around the August release date. They show up in the 65 information. Could it be the 273 was released sometime near mid year in 64? Of the 64's out there with 273's when were they built?
Click to expand...


Try finding 440 six pack information in a 69 service manual... Not there... You have to look in the 70 manual for it....
 
When I first got my 64 273 Dart I had heard that they were mid year. I don't know when the FSM were printed compared to the start of the production year, but the 64 FSM does not include documentation for the 273 engine in the intro or the engine section. See the screen clip below. My 273 GT was built on 1/6/64 at the Newark DE plant (trying to find any info on early Newark models is very difficult, even Galen has nothing on this plant). I do have a factory supplement about the "new 273 V8 for 64" that I'd have to dig out to see the date on. This came with a set - one for brakes, one for suspension, etc with one specific to the 273. Not debating either way - just providing some info...

upload_2020-8-28_21-11-46.png
 
If the 273 had been available at the beginning of the 64 model year (i.e., in September or so), Hot Rod Magazine's "exclusive" December 1963 article about the new 273 motor would have been seriously out of date.

I sure can't claim to be the final word on the subject, but everything I've seen supports the Slant 6 News' claim that production of the motor began in December followed by January availability of the
motor in actual cars. Where Jack Poehler (Slant 6 News editor) would have gotten that information from, I have no idea, and he is no longer around to tell us.

Obviously, 273 blocks used in those December 1963 built motors (and probably many built in 64) would have been cast earlier in 63.
 
toolmanmike said:
Interesting, I am not finding and mention any 273's in the 64 production information dated before or around the August release date. They show up in the 65 information. Could it be the 273 was released sometime near mid year in 64? Of the 64's out there with 273's when were they built?
Click to expand...

Per the Valiant.org site, the 273 went into production in the 1964 Valiant in December, 1963.
 
So.....I got a pre-production block? Nov 20 63. there are older ones out there. How many engines are they going to stockpile before running them down the line? 1964 FSM. Note the 6 cyl call out for the Valiant models. Perhaps the V8 did make its introduction in Jan with the pre 64 blocks cast before hand. If they did deliver Jan X, they must have had thousands in the lot ready for shipment. Build dates back to ...? Ill create a poll, maybe we can get a feel for the production dates.

Oldest '63 273 casting...post them up!


1964PlymouthORM-TOC.jpg
 
According to MMC Detroit (MMC Detroit What date code should be on my part? ©), engine blocks for common motors would typically have been cast 30-90 days before the block was machined and the engine assembled. (For low production engines like 440+6 or Hemi, the time between casting and assembly would often have been longer.)

So yeah, the block of a December 1963 built 273 could easily have been cast maybe as early as September 1963.
 
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