you can occasionally find engines in similar condition,
and once dis-assembled carefully,
and once treated to a few minutes with a pressure cleaner,and solvent spray,
you may find the block , and occasionally other parts ,can be cleaned up, re-bored , blocks in that condition generally sell dirt cheap for obvious reason,
but in many cases after a good cleaning they can be re-machined,and be salvageable, removing all the freeze plugs, oil passage plugs and then use a pressure washer and solvent spray before dropping the block off at a local machine shop for a detailed cleaning and inspection and estimate on getting it back into use-able condition.
I was once given a complete , but partly disassembled, 392 hemi that had been stored in a back yard shed ,up on a shelf under a work bench, for decades, it was never wet, but it was packed full of mud, in every intake and exhaust port from mud dauber wasp,insects, it cleaned up o.k.
When it comes down to the basics is , that,we ALL tend to run into the same basic issue,
and thats the fact that we don,t have enough of the ready cash to dump into a project,
to just buy a complete engine. SO, we have to carefully plan how to allocate our limited finances.
now for a few basics.
your going to find your
engines DISPLACEMENT , the
CAM and
CYLINDER HEADS ability to flow air,
the
exhaust scavenging efficiency,the vehicles
WEIGHT, and the
DRIVE TRAIN GEARING,
has a good deal of effect on the car/truck performance.
the larger the displacement and the higher the compression ratio
(as long as the fuel octane will allow you too without running into detonation)
generally the LEAST expensive compromise, you may make, when you compare total cost vs available power,
will depend on what you have available ,
step back take a deep breath, and think logically, your not locked into using the current parts you have!
you might want to visit several local salvage yards and look for a deal on a complete basic engine,
if for example you could find a 396 BBC, a 383 mopar , a 460 ford or a 472 CADDY , in running and re-buildable condition,
for $500-$600 (which is not that hard in some areas)
yes we can easily show you how to build a kick ass 383, or 406,
but both options would cost more that rebuilding one of those,
if you bought the engine for under $600 and rebuilt it as your starting out with,
almost all the major components that might be re-usable
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/block-prep.125/page-2#post-48605
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-heads-up-on-buying-used-engine-blocks.14305/