Is this block salvagable?

[OldGuy]

I came across a 68 R/T, 440, 4-speed that I am interested in buying.  I don't know the history or the reasons why the guy tore down the engine as I am waiting to talk to him about.  Aside from a cracked block, I would like your opinion if this block is salvagable with the rusting that has occurred.  I don't know how many years it has sat out in the open, although the compartment paint is relatively rust free.  I know it will have to be bored out just to get the pistons out and smooth the cylinder walls.  I didn't get a chance to feel the walls to see how bad or if they were pitted.  I have attached a picture of the block.  All of the parts are there to keep it #'s matching - heads, water pump and intake manifold are in the back seat.  Your opinions please.

Thanks,
Carl

[Blown70]

I would say yes but I wonder if you could acid dip that like a body?  I dont know if cast would be any different.....  I would not see why you could not.  She will need a lot of cleaning.

On the positive.  That is a dang clean engine bay..... What does the rest look like.

[BigBlockSam]

it's hard to tell from here   

[Blown70]

it's hard to tell from here     

VERY TRUE... you may have to pull it before you will know exactly what it will take.  But if the car is clean who cares... Heck you could find another 440 if you had to ... want a 73 block I have on in the shed.

[firefighter3931]

It depends where the crack is. If the main web has cracked i'd say no. If the crack is on the exterior of the block in the water jacket i'd say yes...it can be stitch welded. The bores look pretty rough and freeing up those pistons will take some work. It might end up OK with a .060 overbore, or it could be too far gone. The other option would be to sleeve all of the cylinders but that makes for an expensive block. Anything's possible...the pocketbook is the limiting factor. 

Ron

[Chryco Psycho]

depend how deep the rust is in the cylinder walls , generally if the p[istons are out you can save the block , if the pistons are left in the rust may be to deep to bore out

[OldGuy]

Thanks for your input - I know it is hard to tell from the picture.   Firefighter, thanks, also - my wording could have been better because I don't know if the block is cracked.   I need to talk to the guy to see why he tore the engine down.   I will post up more details with pictures of the car later when and if I close the deal.   Right now I can tell you it is quite a find and the body has only a dent on the passenger fender and a shallow ding on the rear where it looks like it might have been backed into a pole.   Other than that the body is straight and everything is there for a # matching, well optioned 440HP, console 4-speed.

[cudaken]

 Only one way to tell, pull it out and take it to a shop. If you want to pull it a part your self soak it down with a lot's of oil.

                    Cuda Ken

[max]

to be honest i would look at the car and determine if it is something you could fix up and figure the engine as being toast.

then anything you could do to the engine to save it would be on the plus side.
with that being said it is possible to drill through the pistons and bust them apart with out doing anyother damage to the block.

it is hard to tell in the photo but if the cylinder walls aren't pitted to bad or even if they are you could have a machine shop sonic test the block and see just how far it could be bored.

sleeves would be very expensive but if it is indeed a matching #'s block you could put it back and put a running engine in its place till you get the money togeather to build the matching #'s engine correctly.

with the prices of these cars now days even the money it would take to sleeve the block to it's original condition would be like money in the bank if you were to ever sell the car because there isn't too many matching #'s engine cars left around.

[sandmbmx88]

You have the engine and heads thermo cleaned and they will look like fresh castings. Then they magnaflux and pressure test the block and heads and that will tell you if it is salvagable.  All that rust doesnt look to deep so if your willing to pay for the machining and there are no cracks a build would be just fine.  you may end up having it cleaned just to find out its unbuildable.  Thats the gamble you would take.  At my work when people dont go with aftermarked blocks we have to clean older blocks and i always get stuck doing it. First i pressure wash everything to clean out the coolant passages and oil holes, then it goes in an oven and gets heated to 500$ and bakes everything loose, then still hot goes into a media blaster and after 20 min. it looks literally like it is new. then you check it and maybe sonic test it too.

[DFS68_Charger]

I'd be concerned about the lifter bores as well.
They will probably need some work.

DFS

[sandmbmx88]

yea the very least he could get away with is honing them. IF youwant to get a rough idea of how deep the rust is go get some naval jelly and follow the directions to apply that. or some light acid that is water soluable. just remove the rust in a few spots to see if it is light.  Either way saving it is going to cost alot more than finding a better block to start with.  if you want the numbers though....

[bull]

Those pistons might be pretty well fused to the cylinder walls. If you can get the car cheap enough just take the engine down to the shop and let them have a look. IMO it doesn't look too good but it's hard to tell from pictures. If nothing else you could save it in case you ever sell and then you can at least say you have the numbers matching block. Otherwise just drop a nice rebuilt in there and have fun. The value isn't going to drop enough to lose sleep over.

[cudaken]

Carl, did you buy it yet? Screw the 440 if it bad. 68 Charger R/T 4 speeds don't turn up often any more.


                              Cuda Ken

[OldGuy]

Ken,
the owner is working in California and we have been talking with his sister.  She has made contact with him and said it is ours as soon as he can get a duplicate title.  I picked up a duplicate title application yesterday and will be sending it to his sister to pass onto him.  It is a little frustrating that I can't talk to the guy directly and have to use the sister as a go-between, but that is the way they are handling it.  The problem is, the car is about 100+ miles away from where I live so I have to plan a trip to go check it out again.  When we first discovered it, we were doing some traveling and were in a time crunch so didn't have the time to really check it out closely - just snapped some pictures and talked briefly to the sister.  However, she has assured us that the car is ours as soon as they get the title.  We are getting the car for my younger son, Eric, who fixed up the 69.  He has had a hard time sleeping at night thinking about it until it is in our garage.

[RD]

Ken,
the owner is working in California and we have been talking with his sister.   She has made contact with him and said it is ours as soon as he can get a duplicate title.   I picked up a duplicate title application yesterday and will be sending it to his sister to pass onto him.   It is a little frustrating that I can't talk to the guy directly and have to use the sister as a go-between, but that is the way they are handling it.   The problem is, the car is about 100+ miles away from where I live so I have to plan a trip to go check it out again.   When we first discovered it, we were doing some traveling and were in a time crunch so didn't have the time to really check it out closely - just snapped some pictures and talked briefly to the sister.   However, she has assured us that the car is ours as soon as they get the title.   We are getting the car for my younger son, Eric, who fixed up the 69.   He has had a hard time sleeping at night thinking about it until it is in our garage.

I would get the VIN and take it to your highway patrol to make sure the car is legal (i.e. not stolen).  The whole go between thing is scary in my viewpoint.  I would check out the legality of the vehicle prior to putting to much work into it.   

[cudaken]

 Seems a little odd she won't give you a contact number. As far as your son not sleeping at night, I sure understand that.

        Good luck, Cuda Ken

[Silver R/T]

only experienced machinist could tell