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Not sure if this is the right place for this exact issue but here goes...
So I recently picked up this 6.0 engine from facebook for pretty cheap wanting little more than a weekend project. In any event, I figured I would do some electrolysis to see how clean I could get the block. Well after one day of it soaking, I cleaned the block off and got a real good look at how bad the rust was. My question is seeing as how this rust - and it is a lot - is all on the outside of the block along the exterior of the cylinder walls...is this block a lost cause and boat anchor? The interior portions where the lifters and pistons and stuff all go is fine, save for a little honing being needed. You tell me though...keep in mind, some of the flaking is old, OLD paint chipping off too. Like I said, the majority of the rust is on the exterior cylinder wall, the rest of the block seems okay...ish...Thanks for the input.
I'd take it to the quarter (dollar? credit card?) car wash and blast the crap out of it, see if you can see any cracks right at the top of where the rust starts. May just have sat somewhere that it stayed wet, or may be worse than that.
Looks like one of those salt water blocks. Northern vehicle in the rust belt?
Oh 100% its a rust belt block, you already know lol. So I did some more electrolysis and sure enough A LOT of whats on the block is rusted out paint and I was able to chip it off with a screwdriver and rubber mallet but a machine shop trip might be in order none the less. For whatever its worth, the inside of the block looks fine. The cylinders need a decent hone but thats really about it.
I took a cheap needle scalier to mine to clean it up, worked pretty good. Yours looks about the same as my 180,000 miles Minnesota core did. Not much left of the "ribs" on the starter side but the block seems plenty thick yet.
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6.0 rust problem. 
