i took the carb off my 472 and found some rust sitting in the intake. should i be worried about rust in the cylinders? i mean, if water made it into the intake, where else could have it dripped into?

how much rust is it? You probably don't have any in your cylinders, but if you are worried about it just pull the heads and check

Water probably made it in from rainy days, etc etc. I doubt that it made it past the intake without evaporating.

yeah, there is little in the intake, you can see that it just pooled up a little bit,
im a little worried because i havent spun the crank or anything yet. im waiting til i pull out the spark plugs to squirt some oil in there until i spin the crank.

Is it just surface rust, or very scaley rust?

Pull the plugs out and dose the cylinders with some fresh brake fluid. Let it soak around a few days before turning anything. Watch out that stuff is not good for certain types of paint.

Is it just surface rust, or very scaley rust?
its not very rusty at all, you can see where some water was and its a little rust color but the iron isnt very rusty or anything,

Do NOT squirt brake fluid in the cylinders or on any of the engine components! Brake fluid (DOT 3 & 4 anyway) is composed of glycol and glycol ethers and is EXTREMELY hygroscopic (attracts moisture). Spraying brake fluid into the cylinders is like spraying salt water into them-- very likely to cause rust. If you plan to spray anything into the cylinders, use engine oil. Letting brake fluid "soak around for a few days" is likely to rust the bare iron cylinder walls. Then it's hone and re-ring time at the minimum.

Hygroscopic means absorb moisture not attract moisture. The sky is falling. There is a huge difference between electrolytic action on metal from salt and what happens if the cylinder is flushed with brake fluid. Brake fluid is the best thing for freeing metal to metal that had surface rust buildup. The engine in question has been sitting around for a while. The idea is to free it for teardown. Nothing like scuffing the cylinders from a set of stuck rings. I would not trust this job to engine oil. Do you really believe that an otherwise good cylinder wall will be rusted beyond use after having brake fluid in it for a couple of weeks?
BTW, I've seen several engines which were put away for years with brake fluid in the cylinders without problems. Not to say that I'd do that. I would use transmission fluid.

alright, i put the brake fliud in there yesterday. i got the engine up on to a stand now. the stand leans over pretty far with that engine on it, haha

I'll bet! The best of luck to you

That engine is not really all that heavy. Try it with a Chrysler 440 if you want heavy.

That engine is not really all that heavy. Try it with a Chrysler 440 if you want heavy.

did you ever get to spin the crank,,, how long has your caddy been sitting....

Now that this thread has been brought back, that reminds me...I havn't seen Adumb in a while...