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Hello everyone,
Here's my question, I have a 65 coronet 500 factory 273 car and the original 273 is done. My question is how new of a motor can I drop in this car where it's an exact mate to the factory transmission? I still have the cable shifted transmission which I want to keep and have a lead on a 1985 318 motor,(I think that was the year), my car is bone stock and I don't want any kind of high performance motor just a cruiser. I know a roller motor is a different kind of beast but would really like a drop in motor without any issues. I know they changed things when they went to a roller motor.
Thanks for your help, Dan
Posts: 1,226
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The 85 318motor should drop right in with no modifications. You will have to use the early style water pump from the 273 and the distributor, unless you change to electric ignition. There might be other small parts I’m not thinking of right now. You will have to use a 1/4-20 tap in the air injection ports on the heads and put plugs in them or you will have an exhaust leak.
Clean as a whistle
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Hello Dan,
It sounds as if you have a very original car and that's getting to be extremely rare these days. The easiest way to keep the car as original as possible is to rebuild your cars original 273 and install one of the fairly stock looking aftermarket small block Mopar electronic ignition kits. If your original 273 has more damage to it than can be repaired at a reasonable cost, then I'd recommend you look for another 273 from a donor car in your area unless you're just tired of dealing with a carbureted engine.
The one thing that you do have to be extremely careful with on an older generation engine with a flat tappet camshaft that you do not have to worry about with a newer roller camshaft equipped engine is to make sure that you use an engine oil or an aftermarket engine oil additive that is rich in a zinc additive to keep the flat tappet camshaft and lifters alive. These zinc rich oils or oil additives MUST be used at EVERY oil change to avoid flat tappet camshaft and lifter failure in an older generation engine.
I believe that going this way will keep your Coronet looking as factory original as it does now and will also help you avoid issues of trying to make a newer generation engine work in an older car that wasn't designed to use a newer generation engine, as well as trying to make a newer generation engine work in an older car that it wasn't designed to be used in.
I'm sure that many will disagree with me here on the DCR regarding what I've said above, but what it really all boils down to is what works best for YOU and what YOU want your car to be and how much time and effort YOU want to put into this project. I wish you the very best no matter how you decide to proceed!
Richard
For some unknown reason, nobody seems to take me seriously............
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Good points, Richard!
Castles made of sand slip in to the sea....eventually
