PAGING RUSTY...Got Some Rust for ya to Examine for Me

[cr8crshr]

More pics of the 440 I got yesterday. As can be seen by the pics, it is rusty and needs a bake and sonic bore. So what do ya think Rusty??? Will it clean up and be serviceable????? I am particularly concerned with the lifter bores at the rear of the block and the rear of the block as that is how it sat in the out of doors and H2O accumulated in that area and pooled thus causing the rust. It looks more like "slag rust" as it will come off when rubbed. But it is rather abundant. I didn't get any shots from the under side as I didn't want to flip over the dolly by myself as it takes 2 people to do it. But if you want that area to look at I can get those pics up in a day or 2....cr8crshr/Tuck :headbang:

 

[RustyRatRod]

That's purdy rusty. But I'll tell you.......and let the flames begin. A lifter bore would have to end up bein one LOOSE mofo before I would really be worried about it. If it's goin in the machine shop anyway, let somebody blast the thing. It won't hurt a thing. That's what I would do and never look back.

 

[cr8crshr]

So you do think it is serviceable? I know one cannot tell much until it is cleaned up and these blocks are made stoutly. Just trying to get a feel if it is worth it is all...Thanks in advance...cr8crshr/Tuck

 

[5wndwcpe]

Boat anchor.

 

[Dako]

That's purdy rusty. But I'll tell you.......and let the flames begin. A lifter bore would have to end up bein one LOOSE mofo before I would really be worried about it. If it's goin in the machine shop anyway, let somebody blast the thing. It won't hurt a thing. That's what I would do and never look back.

I agree with Rusty...especially if you have access to a pressure pot blaster. Do it outside on your own. Nothing lost but your time. The machine shop 'hot washer' should get any residual media out.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Lemmie put it like this. When I worked for the local chebbie dealer years ago, one of the boys was buildin his first dirt track car. A mid 70s monte carlo. He was on a REAL tight budget. I had a 400 small block I gave him that had been sittin outside under a wheelbarrow. The cylinders were rusted like the worst part of your block. We knocked it apart, I honed it with PBlaster and a dingleberry cleaned the pistons up and we ran the **** out of it. He came in 2nd in his first ever outing. lol It didn't smoke a lick either........well after the rings FINALLY seated in. I bet it'll clean up better than you think. Most people say "boat anchor" because they don't want to put any work into it. You have to remember though, we aint like chebbie boys. Our big block stuff ceased in 78 for the most part. They aint growin on trees. I say give it a shot. I mean really, what have you got to lose?

 

[kdtjb]

I think it will clean up.

 

[satman72]

Thing is, without seeing the motor in person, it hard to say. Sometimes the rust looks really bad, much worse than it is. Some times it looks not too bad, but ends up worse than it seems. Really, you need to find a good machinist to look at it and tell you whether it lives or dies. Pictures won't do it.

 

[YY1]

Seasoned, eh?

You guys see that Petty special where they had a stack of blocks out back for years, and hit them with the hose every couple of days?

 

[747mopar]

If you have access to a roughing hone I would pick the worst cylinder and see what it takes to cleanup. That will be more of determining factor than anything else providing it checks out on the magnuflux as to whether it's usable, I think it will be. When I got my 400 it had water stains showing that it had 6"+ water sitting in it, it looked really bad but cleaned up at .060 (it was bored previously). I pitched everything else and used my 440 rotating assembly. Never hurts to try

 

[ZR9B]

I gave away a 383 hp block that look a lot like that ...two years later the kid had it running and it ran well...

 

[mopar367]

Its not so much the rust that gets you, its the pitting. You can bore the rust away usually even if its heavy, but pitting is deeper usually. I don't know why people don't bother to grease blocks and stuff before they get that bad. Maybe its just me, but I'm out spraying my spare blocks and cranks with wd40 every 2 months.

 

[68sportsatelliteragtop]

Whats it cost to bush the lifter bores nowadays?

 

[747mopar]

Its not so much the rust that gets you, its the pitting. You can bore the rust away usually even if its heavy, but pitting is deeper usually. I don't know why people don't bother to grease blocks and stuff before they get that bad. Maybe its just me, but I'm out spraying my spare blocks and cranks with wd40 every 2 months.

Quit wasting your time spraying them with WD 40 and get some corrosion suppressant. It's the thick waxy nasty stuff that comes on allot of your tooling and equipment brand new, I know Napa sells it. Way better and last allot longer.

 

[Donny]

You'd be amazed how it will clean up having it media blasted! I did my Mustang heads, and they were toast, and they look nice, still need to be rebuilt, but, if its clean, the flaws are easily seen!

 

[GrabberOrange69]

Most likely an easy save. Deck the block, align hone the mains, overbore the cylinders. Piece of cake. My dad owned a machine shop for over 30 years and he save stuff much worse than these pictures seem to indicate.

In opposition to some, I humbly submit you don't want to sand blast the block. That sh*t is just really hard to completely remove from the oil galleys and water jackets. Many shops own a "pickle juice" barrel that will remove rust (some of the old ones...f*cking EPA may prevent that in your state). Or get yourself a wire brush collection for a die grind motor and get to work. Gun barrel cleaning brushes work great for oil galleys. Brake cylinder hones and WD40 work good on lifter bores if you dont get crazy. WD40 recently released a rust cleaning solution - spray down the block and see what you get.

Just my $.02 and good luck.

 

[5wndwcpe]

Its not so much the rust that gets you, its the pitting. You can bore the rust away usually even if its heavy, but pitting is deeper usually. I don't know why people don't bother to grease blocks and stuff before they get that bad. Maybe its just me, but I'm out spraying my spare blocks and cranks with wd40 every 2 months.

I've been down this road. I realize what you guys are saying about giving it a go, but if the pits are deep, how much time and effort does the OP want to spend only to find out it won't clean up with a .060 overbore and will require 2 or 3 sleeves ? 440 blocks are just to cheap and plentiful to expend that much energy on a questionable block. Just my humble opinion.


Flame away.

 

[Donny]

No sand is ever used in my business. However, the old-timers on this site know this, so, no prob! My media is soft, and won't pit or damage the block any further, hope it's salvageable!

 

[RustyRatRod]

Donny, what do you think about aluminum oxide?

 

[Meep-Meep]

The first thing I would do is give it a bath in muriatic acid - carefully - or better yet, use some of that rust dissolver. Then you will see where you are. It's quite possible it will clean up and be fine. Another thing to keep in mind is the rust is inside the oil passages and those loose particles of iron oxide need to be removed. As far as the lifter bores go you may be able to get oversize lifters but the lifter bore will need to be honed with proper tooling that produces a round straight hole.