rust in cylinders

[ShadowMan]

What's the best way to get the rust off the cylinder walls without messing up the new honing I just had done? I just finished installing the crankshaft, main bearing caps and girdle plate and got the pistons and rods assembled. Now i just want to make sure everything is as clean as possible. Also, can I scotch bright the bottom of the head to get the old remnants of the head gasket off or is that too rough? Thanks.

[Kingtal0n]

What's the best way to get the rust off the cylinder walls without messing up the new honing I just had done? I just finished installing the crankshaft, main bearing caps and girdle plate and got the pistons and rods assembled. Now i just want to make sure everything is as clean as possible. Also, can I scotch bright the bottom of the head to get the old remnants of the head gasket off or is that too rough? Thanks.

Why was it allowed to rust? You need to keep it oiled. If its just light surface rust, take oil and a clean cotton rag, and rub the rust until it all comes off. The brown rust should come off quite obviously on the clean white rag, keep rubbing it with oil and clean white cotton rags until the brown stops coming off on the rag. This is the slow-clean way to do this job. If the rust is so bad that you cannot get it all off with oil and a clean white rag... you must take the next step... dont let it get that bad! Keep the cylinders oiled!

Treat the air as if it contains an incredibly corrosive gas (it does) everything made of metal (besides aluminum which forms its own protection) on an engine needs to be covered in oil (almost everything) or the oxygen in the air will take the opportunity to bond and create rust.

[ShadowMan]

No it was just light surface. I got the block back from the machine shop and it was covered in the oil from the cleaning but also just had fine grit in it. So I washed it with warm soapy water and used my air hose to dry it off. But in the time it took to do that the cylinders got this light layer of rust which mostly came off with an oil scrub and cloth, but there was still light rust left. I scrubbed em with a plastic brush and oil and got most of it. Either way I'm stupid for doing it the way I did.
Thanks for the info Kingtal0n