Can bottom end rebuild sit for a year before finishing rest of build?

[Lapkritis]

If you wrap anything up then make sure it's air tight otherwise you'll risk making it worse by trapping condensation. Drop a few bags of desiccant inside on engine under the plastic before wrapping. Attach a note about state of engine (rebuild specs etc) in case life takes off and you don't get back for awhile. If space allows then
consider building a crate and wrapping the engine within the crate and then wrapping the crate itself in heavier mil such as used for shipping industry.

I've stored engines for multiple years after building/assembling. If you plan to store assembled then All wear surfaces should be coated with assembly lube. Bearings, piston rings, jugs, cam lobes, timing chains, rockers, pumps etc.


... air, humidity, rodents, dust and temperature are enemies.

Related note, I parked a car outdoors for a month in a cold and rainy climate fluctuating between 40's-30's Fahrenheit. I came back and swapped a valve cover gasket after that month before starting it and found the cam lobes had started oxidizing in that short period of time. Nothing crazy but a reminder that flat tappets and aggressive cams run pretty raw as they move the valve. This was a running engine in a street car using mobile 1. Assembled and running doesn't make it any "safer" necessarily.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

[safe]

Storage environment is everything. Nice and dry not even raw unprotected steel will rust. Harsh and moist anything will corrode given time.
I would prefer an assembled engine, less parts laying around with chances of getting lost, damaged and dirty (I hate cleaning parts, especially twice...).

[patkeefe]

My long block has been assembled since 2008, sitting covered up in the basement. I am going to time the cams and put the EFI on this coming month, and then put it in the car. I'll let you know if it runs.