Just picked up a69 440 HP engine that's been sitting in a shed. Anyone tell what this engine came out of from the VIN on the block? Be nice to find the car it came from but it has a bad piston in #5 and burned through 3&5 cylinder deck. Still standard bore, I think it will clean up to 30 after the top gets fixed. Plan to use it in one of my projects unless I find the car it came from.

Couple more

from a Dodge or Plymouth c-body probably a former cop-car

Hmmm...thanks!

Looks like junk to me. Once the rust gets that bad in the bore you usually can't save them.

If there is too much rust to bore it out you can have a machine shop install a sleeve. A properly installed sleeve will make that cylinder as good as new.

Buy a cheap dingle berry hone and have at it. If you can clean it up and it only has pits after, then .030” should make it right.

Use lots of mineral spirits while honing it to clean that rust out.

I have also used a large round wire brush on a drill motor to do the same thing.

You’ll spend more money on that block than it’s worth. STD bore 440 blocks are 250 or less and they don’t have rust for that price. The HP means nothing unless it’s the original motor to muscle car.

I agree, blocks that have hard rust in them (not just surface rust) are almost always junk. I've been dragging rusty blocks into the machine shop for years and they almost always tell me to just toss the block onto the recycle pile. One problem with rusty blocks is that if the inside of the cylinder bore is rusty then the outside of the cylinder bore (inside the water jacket) is usually rusty too. If the cylinder walls get a lot of rust damage inside the water jacket then that will cause problems for the engine as well. You do not want to start off a $10,000 engine build with a rusty block. No good comes from that.

Practice your honing skills on the block. Have a bore gauge handy and try to keep it to as little as possible. This will give you the answer if you want to use the block for a build and then get it hot tanked. Is the surface between the cylinders is that a groove. If it is a groove there are a few tricks to fix that or you will have the surface milled.

Thanks everyone, I'll get it apart & see if it's even worth messing with. It was given to me so not out anything. Was told it was out of a boat so I expected the worst anyway.

Does engine rotation mean anything for just a boat engine BLOCK?

I'm fortunate to have this very close to home,only way I would do " anything " anymore. If you have something comparable close,it would probably be worth the cost,and it is not hot tank.That block here would cost you about $75,well worth it just to know.

http://www.mecchemicals.com/services.php

I think the closest one to us is in Oregon

looks like it's flame cut between the cylinders in the lower photo.