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The picture of his car is a 64 Dart, so that implies the early intake & heads. Before I was cognizant of this issue, I inadvertently installed a pair of early heads on my 67 Commando 273. Because the angle the intake bolt holes are drilled into the heads is different, the intake did not seal —...

Huh, I once bought one of those at a swap just to get the old-style all-metal PCV out of it for my 67 (which has a different valve cover, without the stack so it doesn't need the outer cover). It was cheap, but I don't think the chrome was very good.

There is no reason to use an additive when oil with adequate zinc is readily available. For instance, Mobil1 15W50 is specifically formulated for flat tappet engines, with 1500ppm ZDDP. Zinc formulated into the oil will stay in suspension, while the zinc in the additive might well all wind up...

Are you saying it has Edelbrock heads or stock heads? With stock heads it's unlikely there is anything left to get above 5000rpm.

The 273 2bbl is a fine, reliable engine, but will seem underpowered compared to other V8s. The 4bbl is a completely different animal. It still suffers from lack of torque compared to larger displacement engines, but it revs like crazy. To get the most out of it you want a lightweight car with a...

It's easy enough to find oil that already has ZDDP, if you make an effort. I agree that the additive is likely to just sink to the bottom of the sump and stay there (metal being heavier than oil). Oil recommendation: Mobil1 15W50 is specifically formulated for flat tappet engines and contains...

After reassembly, before installing in my 1967 Barracuda.

And then there's a domed piston... I think the answer is "it depends" on the precise configuration and flow characteristics. Good engines have been built both ways.

This entire proposition is a little vague. First, are we talking about a 273-4bbl (somewhat rare, high compression, special cam), or a 273-2bbl (common, anemic)? If you are thinking of building a performance motor out of a 273-2, you would be better off starting with a 318 — no substitute for...

It wasn't uncommon to replace the solid lifters with a hydraulic cam & lifters, retaining the adjustable rockers and using different pushrods. That's how my Commando is set up. But a flat lobe is questionable — a collapsed lifter would seem more likely. But if you are choosing a new cam, the...

BTW, all 1964 Dodges carried the "Golden Anniversary" badges, so that's not anything rare.

FYI all the LA small blocks have the distributor in back — 273, 318, 340, 360 — so that doesn't tell you anything. It's unlikely that there was a "318 race engine" because the 318 was never positioned as a performance engine. But look at the numbers cast in the block.

The problem is you can't make a 2bbl 273 into a Commando with just top end work. You don't have the high compression ratio pistons. So you wind up with long duration and no squish — that's not how to make power. You'd be better off going the other way, with an RV type cam to try to make some...

Here's a picture of the windage tray being installed in my 273 Commando. I'm actually not seeing any washers at all, but I guess people are saying they would be under the tray spacing it away from the crank. I can't recall — this was in 2014. BTW this is not a fresh engine. It was pulled to...

When I bought my windage tray it included washers. But you should be able to buy Grade 8 washers at a hardware store. ARP might be another source.

I believe any head other than the original 273 closed chamber head will lower the compression ratio, which will thwart your HP goal. BTW, 300hp is probably not realistic —275hp would be a very extreme build for the street. More things to consider: You need to factor in the weight of that '49...

#4 would alternately be for the vacuum gauge, if you had that option (rally dash).

Sounds like it still has life in it. I rebuilt my 273 Commando in the early 90s. In 2013 while the body was undergoing restoration, I pulled it, replaced freeze plugs and had the heads redone. I also installed a new timing set. I fired it up late last year and it's been running fine. The bottom...

My take on the Commando/Charger 273: it is already designed for top end, and almost anything you can do to it just makes it more so. That sounds fun, but with a Torqueflite it's hard to make use of it, since it doesn't have the low end grunt for a big launch... at least not with the typical 3.23...

Answering the question, you could keep your power steering — you would just need the pump brackets & hoses for a V8. Or switch to a manual box, same for 6 or 8. I have a small block Barracuda and a slant Barracuda, and they are both fun to drive. So I'm not sure all the extra work and expense...

Pretty sure it's been colorized from a B&W photo. Look at the stacks behind the worker's head. On the left they are red, on the right they are gray, like they didn't bother colorizing that part.

Here's what I found out by calling the parts stores... NGK BP6ES is usually listed as part # NGK 7333. but now that has been "superseded" by NGK 7131, which is actually NGK BPR6ES — in other words, the resistor version. Waddaheck? I figure that makes no difference.

That makes sense. 405 is what I was finding in a look-up for a 273. But it was lumped with the 318. Funny that Bewy recommended NGK BP6ES.... I actually have a bunch of those.... use 'em in my 1966 MG. Thanks, everyone, for the background and recommendations. The car has been parked for 9...

Looking to replace the ancient plugs in my Commando, and I realized that none of the replacement charts show a unique plug for the Commando. They just show the same plug for every small block. The FSM shows N10Y for the 273-4, N9Y for the 340, and N14Y for everything else — this makes me think...

Jealous... mine is a column-shift auto. It flies once it gets up there, but there is too big a gap between 1 & 2, and 2 & 3.

I think if you compare the HP & torque curves for a 273-4 and a 318-2, you will see a radical difference. Based on factory info, the 273-4 has an extremely flat torque curve with a peak at 4000rpm. The HP peak is at 5200rpm. This leads to an entirely different driving experience. Really, it's...

You gotta have the squeeze to take advantage of the cam.

The factory already figured out how to get more performance out of the 273 — domed pistons for higher compression, plus high lift cam and 4bbl intake. Big valves don't really help since you're limited by the small ports. Swapping heads hurts the compression, and what you want to do is raise it...

I was going to post pictures of my original 67 Commando, but now I see that the 66 kickdown pivot is a completely different animal, so I don't know if they would be useful at all.

That 67 head has the same ports, and obviously it bolts up, but the combustion chamber design is completely different (small closed chambers). I wouldn't spend a nickel on a carb upgrade when I'm running a different compression ratio on each bank of cylinders. How the heck are you going to tune...