Got the block, crank, and pistons loaded Sunday night up and hauled into the machine shop yesterday. A scrap of 3/4" ply worked pretty well to spread out the load. Screwing through the oil pan holes with drywall screws to secure it, a tip I got on here, worked great as well. The guy at the machine shop was pretty impressed when I whipped out the little Bosch 12v litheon dril/driver to get the block off the plywood. The crank is just trapped by some 2x4 scraps to keep it stationary.

Had them check the block for cracks, and measure everything up and check it against the specs from the green book.
Got a call this afternoon with some good news:
- No cracks in the block
- Cylinder bores are well within specs for +.040" and can just be honed
- No scoring on the crank journals and just need light polishing
- Dropped/dinged #3 piston can likely be reused with some light clean up work
It's nice to know the old bones are still good. Still undecided about trying to use that piston or replacing it. Mike at iRoll can provide a single matching Mahle piston, which is likely much cheaper than replacing all 4, provided they can be weight matched.
Guess I need to do the same for the head now (get it checked out, see if it's worth putting dollars into) then start formulating a plan forward. I'd like to stay on SU's for fuel and a stock dual-outlet manifold for exhaust, which I'm hoping will prevent me from getting too aggressive on the rebuild.
Haven't been able to locate a local head shop willing to do even light porting work. They seem to be hesitant to touch anything but common V8 applications. Is there any alternatives out there to VPD that have experience with these?
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