how long does oil stay on the cylinder walls, 7 days- 10 days?

now im talking about how long till its bone dry.

im sure we are talking weeks rather that months. wud be good to know.

technical i know but im sure some of you gurus know the answer to this.

Years if not disturbed.

I'd say it would greatly depend on the cylinder finish.
So I don't think you'll get a finite answer, more like X months on a newly honed surface, Y months on a well run-in engine and Z months for an engine nearing the end of it's life. But I can't tell you what X,Y and Z are. But i'd hazard a guess at a minimum of 6 months in any case.

blimey. oil stays on walls for that long.

so if starting an engine once a month, theres zero risk for in those split seconds that there is absolute no oil on the walls.

Depends how much you are talking of... a liberal coating or a trace amount?

A stood up engine is better just left sealed up and not started every now and again. The condensation inside and rich starting mixtures do more harm than good.

Leave it alone, disconnect the battery and be happy. I've stripped engines that haven't been run for many years and they have been in perfect condition inside when stored properly.

[Edited on 24/4/19 by flak monkey]

right i get ya. ive been using rich mixture start up (carbs) to get engine going for a minute and switch it off. i did this about 8 days ago and again about 7 days before that,
ill just disconnect batery and leave it until im ready to take it out.

Engines stored correctly should be fine

The worst thing you can do is starting an engine up on a regular basis and then turning it off immediately after its started (as mentioned above condensation can be a real concern)

An engine needs to be run up to the correct temperature before switching it off

Saw the inside of a Pinto once where it had been repeatedly started and then turned off, It needed a rebore to fix it as the bores were a mess

Yes, short running is bad news. If you want to run it, do so for 20 minutes or more so it gets good and hot, that will disperse condensation. But I would leave alone. Maybe a squirt of oil in each bore, but that is all.