I made a verbal commitment to purchase a complete 454 dated 1975 with 781 heads. The hook is ,the boat sank along with the engine. It's bee sitting around this guys backyard for over 2 years and he said the price is $350. I know this is a good price for around here, but the pistons are sized. What is the prognosis for this potential project? Can the pistons be removed with maybe a little scoring that possibly could be polished?
Thanks in advance.
Dan

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http://hobbystage.net/camaro/narley68

Was it salt water or fresh water?

Royce

Has he pulled the heads off so you can examine the pistons and bore? If not I would ask if he minds you checking them out first. If there is any evidence of pitting or more than just light surface rust I'd pass on the motor.

There's nothing like buying a $350 boat anchor...

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Scott- Austin, Texas
My '68 RS/ZZ4 (http://www.100megsfree.com/choptop/camaro.html)

It was in fresh water. The heads were removed and the pistons looked rough but the cylinder walls did not appear to have any deep scoring or damage. I could only see so far into some of the cylinder walls.
The original cam is still in there along with the crank, that would need polishing.
How would I get the pistons out if this is a workable engine?

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http://hobbystage.net/camaro/narley68

Dan,
Having worked on many marine engines, I would say run away as fast as you can. Unless he will let you pull the pan, and there is absolutely no rust on the crank, the bottom end is probably best used as an anchor. I would offer him $100 max, and hope for the best.

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Bill Koustenis
Owner
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
1971 Chevelle "Heavy Chevy" original owner

The fact that is was fresh water is better than salt. I think what Bill was/is getting at is marine engines take a beating. They are run at high RPM's for hours on end and that takes a toll on them. Now this could very well be a 454 car engine that was used in a speed boat for a short time, we don't know the history. If you know the history and the guy you are buying it from, then you have to make an educated decision. Seeing that it is siezed is not good. Do you know if the engine was running at the time it sank? If so it could very well have bent rods and or a ruined crank. There is just no way to tell until you tear it down and have it inspected. Some of the cylinders should be visable, if there is any rust scale or pits I would shy away from it. You might not be able to clean them up and end up with a boat anchor. Sitting for two years doesn't help either. What does a good 454 block go for? Crank? That is probably at best what you will be able to save. Add machine work to that and there's the price.

Royce

Ask the guy if he would take a $50 deposit and let you give him another $100 (or whatever you can get him to agree to) when you take the block apart and find it to be useable. Sort of a contingency deal . . . I mean, what if you find out the block is already .030 or .060 over with .030 worth of rust?

Thanks for all the replies. The old man that has this engine does not know the history of the engine other than it was in fresh water.
The pan was off & he started to take out the bolts for the caps, but stopped do something else. The crank was not rusty, but it needs cleaning & polished.
Would the heads (781) rods, brackets, timing cover and other misc. parts be worth at least the cost of the engine? I guess I'm trying to justify my position with convoluted logic. I can also get another bare block, clean & ready to go, for $400.
That might be the better way to go with this project
Dan

I think I would go for the $400 block that is ready to go. If he started tearing it down and just stopped (sounds starnge to me), maybe he saw something that wasn't good. It just doesn't take long to tear down an engine. It's not going to save you any money in the long run, by the time you get the machine work done.

Royce

Heres a couple of things to think about. 1, even if it is a standard bore motor, if the pistons are seized from rust then you can bet that it has some deep rust pits in the cylinder walls that may or may not clean up even at .060 over. I just got my engine back from the machine shop saturday. It was a junkyard engine...standard bore 350 that had gotten water in every cylinder. I had to literally beat the pistons out of it with a large hammer and steel rod on the backsides of the pistons even after soaking the bores with wd-40 overnight. It took a .060 overbore just to clean up the rust pits. 2, if the engine was good and hot when running, dousing the engine with cold lake water could have split or warped the block.