Water in cylinder, now rust, now what?

I just cleaned and readied a Ford 400 for assembly that had rust in a few cylinders. When I tore it down, I assumed one would not clean up so I was preparing myself to have the block bored.

I am a determined sort when it comes to making old or "bad" things good again, so I decided to try. What would I have to lose? I got the dingleberry out and started honing.

Not only did I clean up the worst cylinder, but all the rest too. The worst one has some permanent water staining close to the top of the cylinder. Not worried about it. It did have to have new pistons. Get a load of this. I scored a set of NOS STD Sterling cast pistons on fleabay for 20 bucks. The box was so old it was fallin apart but the pistons were perfect.

Keep in mind, all this depends on how much wear the cylinders have to begin with. For some reason, this 400 block didn't have a measurable ridge. I don't understand, because it's a 1971 block and should be wore all to heck.

Try honing it. You might be surprised.