Steve Dulcich on building a budget 318

273 said
It seems a lot here build what I call "full throttle blip burnout machine" something you only can go full throttle seconds at a time or other you be at crazy speeds for the street and to be able to spin the tires at will.

Some might want a more balanced driving experience at normal road speeds especially if you setup for twisty back roads you don't want the pedal so finicky you end up wrong end into a tree.
One funnest cars I had was an old Honda Prelude wasn't overly powerful but peppy as hell could do 7800 rpm shifts had something like 4.88 gears, an was real fun at reasonable into road speeds even the 4.6l Crown Vic cab I drove was fun beating the **** out of them driving drunks home at fairly high intown speeds trying to clear out the town after the bars closed or chasing down runners through parks fields school yards hitting them with a drivers doors as they tried to run :)

One thing people seem to overlook is where and how wide the powerband is, to me it seems like you like a 273 for similar reasons I liked the Honda, rpm, for a relatively modest hp you probably have a wide and high top end to your powerband probably and if you had a 360 or larger be more like a truck's powerband.

I wouldn't mind one day build like a gutted early A 4 gear road carver that does 7000+ rpm shifts at reasonable road speeds, maybe a 170 /6 or 273 :)

I'll have to do a "write up" some day on my thought process. The short version is: I just preferred factory parts, they were good enough when these cars were built. I will upgrade for durability and extra power. It is easy to go down the rabbit hole of "the best" of anything while you have plenty good enough on hand. I start with the rpm limit of parts ( connecting rods and valve train), say 6,500 rpm. I look at what car I'm working on. I run factory ceramic coated exhaust manifolds and the best factory exhaust. So why do I need 300cfm intake ports running through early 273 exhaust manifolds and 2 1/2 diameter straight through single exhaust? I also drive on the street, sometimes 15 hrs for a couple days with no AC. I'm not going to listen to headers and droning mufflers for any length of time. I've had to floor the Barracuda in panic situations, tires going up in smoke would not have saved me. No 1/4 mile at a time in a controlled environment. No trailer in case of failure.

With the 1.88 intake J heads, the 273 ran like a 340, just a tick slower with a higher rpm. The TQ was mind blowing at the right rpm kick in while still being sweet during normal driving. Non car people would freak if I wound it up to 3,000 rpm and floored it, let alone power shifted at 6,500 rpm. The 170 slant six was really sweet for what it was. I wish I would have kept that one. You don't even need to gut your early A, you will love it.