Sorry for the eclectic replies guys. Between working 10 hour days, night school, and playing GIJOE this weekend I'm a little sleep deprived and run thin.
Gabe... Let me know what ya find and we can work something out when you're back in town. In a J truck would be cool.
So this is a lil funny. When I got to school (without the motor) I asked the instructor if he had a different motor I could use. Showed him the pics and he kinda shrugged and said "let's see". We go find a short block 305. Um, ok. Whatever as long as I can work it for class requirements. Took about 15 minutes to take it down to a bare block. I must have been sleepy because it literally wasn't until I laid everything out on the bench that I realized I only had 7 rods/pistons.
He told me just do what I can and we'd pull some stuff from a different motor.
Back to the 401. I tried cleaning the carbon off of one piston to see if it had any info. Brake cleaner and a bristle brush wasn't enough so I'll drag it to school and take it all down and run it through the dishwasher. Get it all clean and then measure what I can.
TAT, I didn't think the pistons looked stock either. Once I get em clean and can check em I'm hoping they are ok and not like .060. .010 or even .030 would work. Check ring gap, crank bore, etc. If nothing obvious is bad and I can find a crank I'll put some of our meager $$ into some next steps. It'll be a very slow build if I have a usable block but should be a killer motor for the Chief. Or commando.
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