273 Exh Port MisMatch

You really lost me here... dies "never intended to use gaskets refer to the presses metal gaskets that were original???

Lost me too, because these were the original style gaskets that Mopar used on the early A 273s
Okay, I should elaborate- they never used composition gaskets. The steel shims, when used, were more of a spark plug heat shield than a gasket. And they weren't used on all motors. Most of the time they went on bare. I'm pretty sure slants were the only engine that used composition gaskets on the exhaust, and that was only because it was a single gasket with the intake.