Sorry mate, only just seen this!
Whatever you do, don't use steel wool that you would use for removing paint, it's too brittle and will fall to bits and ruin the engine.
Get some aluminium saucepan scrubbers and put 1 of those in the bottom, you can get them from supermarkets and such. It has thicker strands and won't just pull apart. Until then just run it empty and you'll be fine.