Water in fuel delivery valve - HELP!!!

[NeedSpace]

I decided to replace the trinity of death oil leaks and I am very glad I did. It was much easier to take off the fuel injection system than I expected. After taking it off, I noticed 2 things. 1) I have carrera chain tensioners, yeah! 2) THE BAD NEWS...I found water in one of my valves. CRAP! I cleaned the water and this is what was left in there. This is cylinder 4 (back right cylinder, away from passenger compartment).



A plethora of 4 letter words later i got to work. The valve is closed which I suppose is some good news that it doesn't appear to have entered the cylinder. Because it was closed, I got to cleaning it. After some careful work and a boatload of q-tips, this is what it looks like now.



The engine has been indoors since I have had it. It was delivered to me a few months ago, which looks like about the amount of rust that was in there. I suspect, that with the previous owner, the engine might have been outside for a few days during a rain which would explain the water in the valve. The wate came from the injector seat, it was not that tight at all. It had a top end engine rebuild a few thousand miles ago.

So how screwed am it? I DO NOT want to do a complete engine rebuild, at least not yet. My plan was to go back tomorrow and do a little more cleaning with dw40. Then once completely clean, I was going turn the engine and make sure the valve opens and isn't rusted closed.

If the valve opens, would I be ok running it? How difficult would it be to replace the valve? What type of time commitment would it take?

[timmy2]

Aluminum head with bronze alloy guide, looks like the steel is fairly clean. Corrosion is probably not a concern other than on the surface.
Clean it up some more and what remains should just burn off once you get up to running temperatures for a while. Use some electrical contact cleaner to displace any remaining moisture by spraying a bunch in there and soaking it up witha clean cloth, then let it evaporate. Spray a litttle oil in there to preserve until you are ready to run.

[NeedSpace]

Oh, thank GOD! Timmy2 thanks for this, my last read before going to bed...sleeping with be distracted with thoughts of driving her and not rebuilding her!

[NeedSpace]

Fantastic news. I finished cleaning out of the valve and turned over the engine. Went off without a hitch. WOOHOO!