Save the motor mounts, V8 steering center link, exhaust manifolds, gas pedal and throttle cable assembly. The only body modification you might have to make is notching the torsion bar crossmember on the passenger side if you want true dual exhaust. You can do dual exhaust without doing that, but the pipe hangs lower to get under the crossmember. Find a later 904/998/999 and your driveshaft will work right back. You might have to modify your existing shift linkage from the slant trans. One more thing to watch for if you swap to a later 318 and use the 65 exhaust manifolds. Mock up the drivers side manifold to the motor before you put it in the car. The early A drivers side manifold will hit a bump on the bottom of the later heads. It's a danged if you do, danged if you don't situation. If you grind the slightest bit too much on the head bump, you hit water. If you try to tighten it without good clearance, you will crack the manifold. It's fixable with conservative grinding and double gaskets, or no grinding and a spacer between the manifold and head. Good luck with it!
You can use the same motor mounts as the 273, BUT-
2nd, I have one all but done on an engine stand. Having run almost all Mopar engines in a 4 speed car. Keep in mind I am a street high performance everyday driver. I want performance and mpg as I would, and still do, drive from the east coast to South Dakota and Nebraska on a yearly basis. We are talking 12 to 15 hours of straight driving at a constant 70 - 80 mph per day for two days. The 66 Barracuda does not make that run anymore, but has in the past. Always nice to get low to mid 20's mpg and a good 273 is almost as quick as a 340 the way I build them. The 273 and the 340 are similar with the heavy duty parts like forged cranks, bushed rods, and floating pistons. The pistons in both are close to zero deck and I love a solid lifter cam, which comes stock in a 273.
And if it’s and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas.
All my motors are good in the garage. You think any used motor is a sure thing? LOL!
Not at all, but my local pick and pull gives you 30 days to inspect and return a motor if it’s junk. You ain’t getting that from marketplace.
I guess just getting the car running and really working on it down the road/as issues arise. The car itself is in great shape, just the 225 seized up, I bought a new slant core for 50$ and intended to hot rod it out a little, and get some power out of it. But now that this deal has presented itself I think the v8 route would be more satisfactory for me.
I ain’t trying to pick on you, but your love for the 273 clouds your judgement. It’s a great motor, but not the best option for this situation.
I have never done any sort of motor swap or transmission repair before, but I do have some buddies that have alot more experience that are willing to help.
No better car to learn to work on than a slant 6 A body. Swap the seized 225 for the 225 you bought for $50, and get it running. It will be a great feeling of accomplishment, and you will get a chance to see whats involved in replacing the motor. Then you can tell that story for the rest of your life.
This kid had never don’t a motor swap or even maintenance on a transmission. He is not you and you are being arrogant on this topic.
The rest of the car is in its stock condition, I figure whether I keep the slant or not im gonna get beefier brakes an torsions bars at some point.
I'm not being arrogant, have you had or done an early A. It takes more than a motor. Just because I prefer one motor over another does not matter, it is my opinion. We all started where he is now. If one wanted to swap a V8 for a /6, the best advice I could give, is to get a donor car. Early A V8 cars and all that goes with it are hard to find in todays world. 318's have never been hard to find. They run forever and usually outlast the body. An Early A has more than a few peculiarities and some things special to them. It's not about you.
Check to see what you have first.
(2 1965 Barracudas, /6 vs 273.) I had the same path you are faced with. I went with the /6, which is still an ongoing project. The engine is ready to be installed and run. Head and block work, cam (Hughes), intake (Offy 4 barrel), headers (Clifford), N2O, etc. If I were to start over...I would finish the car first, up to the point of installing the engine and making it a "roller." Right now, my project car is still on the rotisserie, not quite ready to be on the ground. In the meantime, my ready to run "hot rod /6," has been on the stand over a year. It seems (IMHO) everyone does a small block or something else. I want mine to be kind of unique, thus the /6 (which is a matching #) for this car. The 273 is the same for the other car, matching #. if you choose, swapping out a /6 for a 273 it's not a real big deal. However, I elected to go from a 904 A/T to a 833 4S which has been giving me some headaches. My 273 car had a three speed in it and the project car was an A/T. Some of the linkage and stuff works, some of it does not.
