[Thorpedo]

Originally Posted by that_guy

Bingo.

Only way to prevent rust forming inside the engine is to fog the cylinders with a fogging oil. The only easy way to do this on a flat 4 (rather than pull the plugs) is to just feed a vac line while it's running. This will pull it in past the valves and through the intake and into the cylinders. But it will stall the car out, so make sure it's in the final resting place when you do it.

Again, I didn't bother with this step.

I would disagree with this point. Cylinders don't typically rust over the period of a winter when an engine isn't open to the elements (removed intake for example). Also the fogging oil does nothing to prevent engine components that aren't exposed to to the intake tract from rusting, although these don't typically rust either. If the engine is going to be stored for a very extended period there are measures I would take, but having been an engine builder for years I can tell you that no form of fogging oil that I have seen will get near an engine that I own.

Shut the engine down with the proper amount of relative fresh oil, keep air in the tires (or store them if they are a soft compound), full the fuel tank and add the proper amount of stabilizer. Keep your local pests out with common sense measures. I also run a small wattage solar battery tender to keep it topped off. I don't even unhook the terminals and mine starts fine in the spring. I normally change the oil in the spring but given the high oil temps our engines see I cannot imagine any small amount of condensation build up in the oil would last long.