Here's another reason not to leave 'em sitting for long periods. These are out of the original 40k mile engine from my 76 Ventura.
The car sat for 18 years before I got it, I went through it thoroughly before putting it on the road, but it doesn't get driven much and often takes a fair amount of cranking to get it started. We can no longer get ethanol free fuel here in Canada and it does evaporate. I pulled the motor out and dropped in another one that I have, got all new bearings for this one, but no hurry to get it back together, it's just a 260 cube Oldsmobile, and the other one is a 350, so I can have a little more fun with it.
The car sat for 18 years before I got it, I went through it thoroughly before putting it on the road, but it doesn't get driven much and often takes a fair amount of cranking to get it started. We can no longer get ethanol free fuel here in Canada and it does evaporate. I pulled the motor out and dropped in another one that I have, got all new bearings for this one, but no hurry to get it back together, it's just a 260 cube Oldsmobile, and the other one is a 350, so I can have a little more fun with it.