How to part out an engine block...
 

I have an old 6.2L diesel engine that I've stripped down to nearly an empty block - though some stuff still remains. I'll try to sell it to a scrap yard. Someone told me that I may get a better price for just pure cast iron. Is that true? The whole block and both heads (V8) are all cast iron. Should I strip it all down to the block, or just sell it with the rest of the stuff on there?

Still trying to sell a bunch of stuff cheap (that unfortunately nobody wants)... must be that the junk yards are full of these old GM engines.

just sell it as dirty cast.my junkyard doesn't even mess with em they just throw em in with their other steel.and if by chance there is a price difference it ain't gonna be worth the time to strip the heads down to bare.

There are a number of scrap steel dealers in Denver who would buy it from you. There used to be one right down by the Auraria campus. Don't know if it's still there or not.

Is there anything wrong with it that would prevent machining and reuse? If not, contact your local engine rebuilders. It might very well have more core value than scrap iron value.

Agreed, these are starting to be unobtainium.

Well, this in fact is an engine core from 1983 known as a 'red block'. Supposedly this particular casting has been known to be a solid casting because of a high percentage of nickel. This is why I bought the engine, unfortunately for me, when I opened up the pan and did a close inspection of the main webs I found deep cracks on nearly every one of the main webs. These might have been caused by a King-Kong re-builder (it has been rebuilt in the past, has oversized bores), or simply a hard life. Judging from every component that I've seen on there it has had a pretty hard life and the oil has been very thick. Most of the major parts are new and can be re-used but I don't think the block is worth saving - not even sure it's possible to save it with those cracks...

Here is the pic with marks of all places that have the cracks:
http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/...e/IMG_6231.jpg

Here is a close up of one of them:
http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/...e/IMG_6233.jpg

That's too bad. Good inspection job though. It has amazed me over the years how much machining value gets put into blocks that are cracked, seriously core shifted or has other weaknesses. Good catch on your part. It sounds like you are indeed limited to dirty cast value.