Great! Make sure you flush the crap out of the block too.
Yeah I'd be spraying that down with some heavy degreaser and letting it soak then spray it down. Probably going to take a few rounds of that. Obviously avoid getting water around the carb and distributor cap. I usually just cover with plastic bags (gallon freezer bags secured with a small bungee works well).
Not sure that would be your leak. Lots of stuff above that can & will leak down on all the front end parts. Like above, clean it all up and see what's making the mess.
That's great!!!! How long has it been off the road??