240 Is this block ruined?

Pulled apart my B23 that had been sitting outdoors for a few years. Cyl 3 had a bit of rust in it but it still turned over freely. I put some vinegar in the bore and let it sit for a day or two and most of the rust wiped off. The bearings look... old. But not spun.

What do you guys think? Would you be afraid to slap this back together and send it? This engine is probably temporary and won?t see boost or lots of miles.







This one, cyl 4, is NOT as bad as it looks. I can?t catch my fingernail on the ridges at the top.

If your also not worried about the price of a gasket set and your time, I would say send it.

I'd bore it, that one cylinder wall looks like a sponge.

Or maybe just a refresh honing... doesn't look that bad to me.

I've bined better blocks.....
Waste of everything if you try to run that block in this condition
My 2c

Ok, tb- style is to slam it together as it is

This block is for a non-Volvo swap. I wanna get it running on a carbed B23 and swap in my fresh 93+ B230 block and fuel injection later down the road.

I won?t spend money on this old unknown block apart from gaskets. I just want it to run good enough to see if I like a redblock in this car. I might do a dingleball hone on the bad cylinder and see if the rust marks go away. How about the bearings, do they look OK?

Those pits are deep. They aren't going to go away with a hone job. It's a crap shoot. I think it will run decent, yet, you are going to have a lot of leakage on that cylinder. If the other bores measure within tolerance, sleeve the pitted bore to fit your current piston set.

Depends upon what you are wanting to do and your budget.

If you want it fresh and peppy, do a full rebuild. Probably sleeving that hole with the pits, but it may bore out. Your machine shop should be able to tell you. At that point, you are a few grand deep into it.

If you want to just have something running and/or don't have the budget for a rebuild, its probably fine as is. Check the bearing clearances with plastigauge in that case and slam it back together if within spec. Be prepared for the blowby by installing a vented valve cover cap. You probably have a couple hundred into it and buy yourself some time to do something else.

You could also find another running engine and freshen it up to drop it in.

Needs to be bored,if it will clean up? maybe a sleeve, does not look good