Mopar Muscle – October 2019

(Barré) #1

TECH | FUEL FOR THOUGHT


distributor was pulled from the block and

rested away from the intake manifold.
We unthreaded all the intake manifold

bolts by loosening each bolt in the opposite
order of the tightening torque sequence.

The kickdown linkage and bracket were
pushed to the driver side of the intake

manifold. With everything removed from
the carburetor and manifold, we lifted
the manifold out of the engine bay.

When the manifold was pulled, we
kept the amount of coolant and debris

entering the engine to a minimum. We

were surprised to see that someone had

installed a valley-pan cover in the little


  1. The steel intake-manifold gaskets


were lifted from each cylinder head, and
to keep debris out of the engine during

cleaning, we stuffed paper towels into
each cylinder-head port and put paper

towels over the open valley. With the
use of carb cleaner, a brush, and a putty
knife, the cylinder heads and end rails of

the block were cleaned and readied for the
4-bbl manifold. Fel-Pro intake-manifold

gaskets (PN SFL1243) were laid onto

each cylinder head and each block end
rail. Before we placed the manifold onto

the heads, we had to remove the factory
roll pin on the back rail of the block,

permitting the LD4B to seat properly. With
the roll pin removed, the intake manifold

fell into place.
Prior to torqueing the manifold to

the cylinder heads, the 4-bbl kickdown
linkage was slipped into the place

where the 2-bbl linkage had been. The
carburetor return spring bracket had to

be modified to work with the Edelbrock
manifold. The factory intake-manifold

bolts were cleaned, repainted, and torqued
into the cylinder heads. We transferred

the thermostat housing, thermostat, and
temperature sending unit from the 2-bbl

manifold to the Edelbrock manifold. The
distributor was slipped back into the

block, and although we realigned the
reference marks we had made before the

disassembly, the timing would have to
be checked after the engine was again

running. A new gasket followed by the
Brawler carburetor was placed onto the

LD4B manifold studs, and the stud nuts
were torqued to 100 in-lb. The kickdown

linkage was properly adjusted, and the
kickdown spring and carburetor return

springs were fitted to the Holley throttle-
extension lever required for Mopar vehicles

(PN 20-7). A new bypass hose and
upper radiator hose were installed. We

added a heater-hose bracket, which was
not available in 1967 for the 273. This

bracket allowed us to route the new heater
hoses away from the top of the passenger-

side valve cover and around the air-
cleaner housing. The heater hoses were

further tied together with an OEM strap
that we located about halfway between

the firewall and the heater-hose bracket.
The cooling system was filled with

coolant. The PCV hose was connected to
the Brawler, and the distributor vacuum

advance hose was left disconnected and
plugged until the engine was running and

properly timed.
When it came time to plumb the car-

buretor, we wanted the fuel line to look as
factory as possible, which meant we would

not use any high-dollar, braided fuel lines.
The fuel line we elected to use was^5 ⁄ 16 -

inch steel line, which we could bend into

the desired shape necessary to fit to each
float bowl, the fuel filter, and the fuel pump

while clearing all other engine components.
The bending and shaping of the steel lines

required a tubing bender and a double-
flaring tool. The inlets to each float bowl

were changed from the as-shipped inlets
on the Brawler to Holley^5 ⁄ 16 -inch inlets

(PN 26-27) to accommodate the use of
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