Well ladies and friends, I have taken on the project of building a glass top coffee table out of an old engine block. I picked up this full engine from a shop for $50, it's a 2V 4.6L V8 out of a wrecked 2005 Mercury Mountaineer. I pulled the heads, oil pan, piston/connecting rod assemblies, oil pump, water pump, crankshaft... basically everything, down to the bare block. Next step is to clean everything up, sort through the parts, and get a better game plan. I think I'm going to use all 8 pistons - 4 on the bottom of the block to lift it off the floor, and the other 4 to hold the glass up. My apologies for the lack of pictures, hands were dirty and it got dark quick.
Mid-teardown: