Old engine with no air cleaner! What to do?

[Truck Guy99]

A buddy of mine and I are going to drag an old s10 out of a field. I think it's an 86 or an 87. The story is the engine was rebuilt and after they put it back together and it wouldn't pick up fuel so they parked it for about 5 years. The fuel thing I can handle. The problem is they left the air cleaner off so the carb is filthy and it more than likely got deeper than that. I'll probably pull off the intake manifold and carb to give them a bath in carb cleaner. Then take the spark plugs out and pour some marvel mystery oil in the cylinders to loosen it up. If the dirt is deeper than the manifold, what do I do? I've gotten quite a few old engines running again but this is the first time I've had to deal with no air cleaner.

[imjeff]

If it had a hood over it, pulling the intake should tell the tale. The butterflys shouldn't have let anything too large in and a hood would keep water out. You may be Ok if the heads aren't full of water.

[gchemist]

Take the intake off. Heads too if you don't have a camera to look down cylinders. Gaskets are cheap. Use a priming tool with fresh oil. You can turn the key to the on position and check for pressure while priming oil.