Sorry, had 2 solid weeks of in-laws visiting, and the weather has been rough.
I pulled the valve lifters off the side and a few lifters were stuck and the valve train is covered in surface rust. Also looks like the rods and non-machined surfaces of crank are covered in surface rust. Judging by the rust pattern on top of the head, its clear that water was getting into the engine through the valve cover studs (the seals were toasted). Surface rust also might be due to long term exposure to sulfuric acid from diesel? Not sure.
Once I took the lifters out of the block, the engine rotates about 180 degrees now. So I am suspecting rust buildup in the cylinders is the final (of several) culprit. I'll confirm that when I pull the head. I have all the bolts off the head but it's pretty stuck so I need to get a big prybar on it.
Trying to decide now if I want to clean up the rust as best as I can with the engine still in it, or should just bite the bullet and pull the engine, disassemble and clean up. I am going to have to pull the radiator to get the cam out to clean it up, so it might be just best to pull the entire engine. It would also nice to be work on the engine in a clean shop instead of next to a blackberry bush outside. I guess I will decide when I get the head off. When I get to this point in a project, I like to take a few days off to think about it before I do anything drastic.
There is definitely going to be pitting on the surfaces of the lifters/cam/etc due to the rust build up. Not sure I want to replace all that stuff though, Hoping I can just clean it up as best I can and smooth it back out and go from there.
Some of these pictures are pretty bad, might be considered NSFL. Don' look at them if you have just eaten. Just about every non-machined surface is covered.
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