Swapping '69 273 with '84 318 Into My 1969 Dart

i'd used the electronic ignition. it's fairly straight forward to modify the wiring for it. however, i'd suggest recurving the distributor for better/optimized performance-- it'll have a smog tune on it.

it'll be similar in performance, the compression ratios aren't that far apart. however, check that the heads don't have smog ports. if so you'll need to plug those.

reuse your flex plate and all that-- it'll bolt directly to the 318

the later 318 has a different front cover with the timing marks on the driver's side to correspond with a balancer that is marked differently and a waterpump that exits on the passenger side (instead of the driver's side in 69). naturally the radiator lower hose is placed on the passenger side.

so you'll need to take into consideration how you want to tackle this-- probably the easiest is to re use your front cover and such and just remark the 318 balancer.

but if you need a new radiator, this would be an perfect opportunity to upgrade everything...
Thank you for the information! This reassures me quite a bit on the situation. I have a new aluminum rad on the way. So, and I'm sorry if this is common knowledge, is the front cover swap done just to reuse the old water pump from the 273? I assume the rest of the accessories are unaffected by the front cover swap or bolt right up? I would imagine it's not too much work with both engines out either way, and I will probably have a lot of my questions answered when I pick up that 318 tomorrow and get a look at the differences between the two.

edit- I will be doing the head gaskets on the new engine, so I will be able to check for those ports, what would you suggest using to plug them if they are present?