Unless you've got a bunch of freeze cracks to deal with, just about anything else can be rebuilt of upgraded. One thing I like to do with a 216 is get rid of the heavy cast iron pistons that pound the Babbit rod bearings to death. A 60 thousandths overbore (which you might need to do anyway to clean up rusty cylinder walls) and a set of standard bore 235 aluminum pistons brings the displacement up to 224 cubic inches, raises the compression slightly, and makes the engine accelerate better. Connecting rod oil clearance adjustments don't have to be done as frequently with lightweight pistons, also. To salvage a badly worn numbers-correct block, it's also possible to sleeve all the cylinders back to standard bore size. Expensive, but doable.
Jerry
