What am I missing here? Did you delete the post? 273......does anyone build a Ford 260 when 289s and 302/351 are the same family? 273 had a steel crank, so did a bunch of 318s, and with the same stroke.
> "They love to rev.." so can a 318, same stroke.
> "They had good high compression pistons" you can buy the same (better quench) compression pistons for a 318 for LESS. " >"They came stock with a single plane 4bbl Intake" yes, and it kinda sucked. A 318/360 4bbl will bolt up to later 273s and the port mismatch won't hurt it much as the factory 318-4bbl was the same intake as the 360-4.
>"they made 235hp in 4bbl trim" put all that on a 318 short block and see what it'll make with gobs more torque
>"they made 275 in D-Dart trim"..once again, Build a 318 with those cam specs or even base that build on a 318 block and see what intakes. Displacement is so important on an NA motor on multiple levels. If you got a 273 work with what you got, hey you can keep it "original"... if you don't touch the 9" brakes and single pot MC and the points ignition. It's your car, your choices. Many opinions on this. Do you wanna race it or cruise it. Cruising and enjoying it is a lot ore fun that trying to fix it under a race deadline unless your into that and that's not the best motor to race unless it's a class race.