273 commando HELP!!!

toolmanmike said
I'm sure Ma Mopar had to add weight somewhere. The pistons are pretty light beacuse of the small bore size and they didn't want to keep drilling the crank.
The crank would look like swiss cheese if you'd use aluminum rods. LOL Of course there's knife edging now days. That takes weight off the throws without weakining the crank. I'm thinking about having a solid lifter cam made.
Specs would be closer to stock than the E-4. That cam has been around for years and allthough a good stock replacement the new cam lobe technology
they use now days would be a plus. I talked to BJR Racing in the chat room the other night and he got into modern cam design cam design. I was messing around with my dyno program and his suggestions found more horsepower without sacrificing torque. For a stock 273 with a little head work and a different cam it figured out to 294 hp@5500 rpm and 273 ft./lb. of
torque at 2000 rpm with a max of 321@ 4000rpm. That's through stock manifolds and exhaust. Headers really helps, bumping it up to 340 hp and 354 ft.lb.I keep messing and finding a couple of horses here & there. toolman http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=55641

We built a 273 based 258 inch motor that has very light weight pistons and pins. Also built a 318 using light weight components. In each case when they were balanced the counter weights were turned down with a lathe, more than .125". Both engines have seen 7500 rpm and they do it easy.:love7:If I do another 273, I will use 318 wrist pins! The small engine has .224 @ .050 with 434 net liftsolid cam. It is a little weak below 3000, then hang on. Pulled a 4100 lb truck to a 15.16 at 92 mph in the 1/4. With stock heads and intake some of the low end torque would return because port velocity would be better.