2W,
When you remove a head and see a connecting rod, fit with a pin and no piston, you can pretty much assume that was is left is "totaled".
I would not even attempt to save the head. You now have the potential for stress cracks and I personally would never trust it with my newly built $$$$ below it.
Send it in for a core and hope for the best.
I just bought a complete used 75 engine for $500. My plans are to disassemble it, send the block to a machine shop and have the deck resurfaced, line bored, cylinders bored to .010" over, new cam, lifters, pistons and rods, crankshaft resurfaced and all of the related new parts installed. Hopefully by next winter, I'll swap it over with my newly redone head and back on the road next spring.
BUT before I do, I'll price all of this out and add for the worst case scenario. If it exceeds what I can get it done at TRF for, I'll ship mine to TRF and have them do it. I need to find a machine shop in NE that is familiar with this engine block and will do it the way that I want it done.
My car runs good and this is just the final major step for me in the restoration. (Yeah, right...)
My point of this explanation is, I have a running car and time. You may or may not have that time to wait. If you are in a hurry, you can buy what's on the shelf. If not, try to find a good engine and have redone as Tom and others did with their engines that they took out.
As Alana said above, it all depends on how fast you want to be up and running and the cost of doing it one over the other. Weigh your decision carefully.