I guess it is kinda FE - in that the engine in question is an FE... so...
Anyway - I have a D2TE based 390 that I bought for the block. I paid next to nothing for the long block (either $25 or $50 if memory serves) and did not do much if any inspection on it before hauling it home.
Anyway - it looks like the rings are rusted to the walls. I've had Marvell's in each bore for the last few months. A month or so ago I checked and they were still solid... If memory serves the block was already either .020 or .030 over. I've never dealt with this before - so I've got a few questions...
What I've done so far is....
* Pull the heads... find rust / water in a couple of holes... dried the block out, filled each hole with Marvell's Mystery oil...
* Attached an old fly-wheel and made a make-shift lever with hooks for a couple of holes in the flywheel - and then proceeded to hang my 300# butt off the end of the 4ft lever - with no luck...
* Pulled the crank (the journals look surprisingly clean) flipped the thing over and gave the top of the offending pistons a decent tap with a soft faced dead-blow hammer... no joy....
* Grabbed a 12" chunk of 2X4 and used it as a big soft punch - whacking it with a 16 oz framing hammer... no joy...
* Tossed the 2X4 and grabbed a 3lb sledge hammer... decided that while I did not care about the pistons or rods... I didn't want to do something stupid and ruin a potentially otherwise good block...
SO....
1) What are the odds that the rust at the rings is so deep that the bores are shot to the point that a typical 390 block would not take more over-bore? I can do the "drill bit test" on the block (need to pull the freeze plugs) - but candidly don't want to mess with it if the answer is "yeah when they get that rusted the block is scrap"
2) If the block is not likely scrap - how gentle do I need to be with this deal? I am not interested in the pistons - but don't want "aggressive piston removal" to result in unnecessary damage to the block. I've thought about hitting the pistons with a 3 lb sledge, a 12 lb sledge, or possibly mocking up some sort of flat surfaced attachment for an air hammer and going at the piston with that. I even gave some thought to mocking up some sort of structure that bolts in to the head bolt's home - and having at the piston with a porta-power...
Advice? Do's? Don'ts?
thanks in advance...
Nathan