Engine to far gone?

This 429 thunder jet came out of wrecked third years ago and until the last 5 or 6 years it hasn't been stored very well. Would be a great doner for a build I have planned for a f100 but after pulling the heads off it was a little discouraging. The heads are dove c heads and I'd like to sell them if they are not too far gone. I intend to completely disassemble the block once it's on the stand to see the condition of the bottom end and if there's any rust below the Piston. I planned on doing .040" OB to so hopefully that'll clean up the the cylinder walls if it's not too far gone. Curious what your guys opinions are and if you've ever dealt with something like this?

Thanks in advance, Zach

Motor that was in my cyclone with the hood scoop missing for 20 years looked like that. Machine shop told me block was no good and heads where pitted too bad. Maybe have to just take it in and see if it cleans up

Form what I can see in the pics it’s savagable no problem

Doesn't look that bad to me either.

Nothing real scary there - you'll have some pits where the rings are rusted to the cylinder walls, but boring (to whatever size it cleans up at) should take care of them. If it mags OK you look to be in good shape.

I've used blocks that were worse than that. One of them had to go .060" over, but that is nothing for these blocks!!

IDK, hard to tell from a picture, but you have a questionable valve pocket and a few cylinders that could be problematic but hopefully you caught it in time and all is good.

Looks fine. That block can go .110 over not that you will have to. Have sonic tested many 429/460 blocks, early blocks thick. Isn't that bad.

Classics65 wrote:This 429 thunder jet...hasn't been stored very well...The heads are dove c heads and I'd like to see...if there's any rust below the Piston...Curious what your guys opinions are and if you've ever dealt with something like this?

You don't know until you clean and inspect, and the appearance of your 50-year old Thunderjet engine does not look any worse to me than the typical Thunderjet tear down and inspect.  Here's a little Before & After:





Furthermore, there are features in your castings that I find appealing and would encourage me to clean it up and check it out.  Also your D0VE heads look great as pictured, no broken guides, seats look good, no pitting in chambers or quench pads, etc.  I don't know the application of your F100 is going to be, but if it's primarily a street truck then you might have all the block and heads (and crankshaft) you need right in front of you.

like others have said, you have to clean it to know.
I have had some like that which were fine.
I have had others look the same but had heavy water erosion right above the piston where water would lay. this was typically only in one or two bores though and can be sleeved if needed.

sometimes if I want to know I use one of the old three stone drill hones to knock the rust out so I can inspect it better without having to go to a machinist. that is about all those hones are good for, but they do work well for cleanup.

Thanks for all the replies! I really appreciate it and will post some pics of the cylinder walls once we able to move cars out of the way in our shop to get on stand and pull the crank and pistons. See how bad it is under the rings

This might give ya a idea whats possible , These are Dove-c heads that took a beating and the machine shop fixed them right up.
IMG_3465 by Nuclearcobra, on Flickr
IMG_3463 by Nuclearcobra, on Flickr

I had a block worse than that. Bored it out .080 and turned it into a 514 cu in.

I had a block worse than that. Bored it out .080 and turned it into a 514 cu in.