ORIGINAL: culver
I may get sniped at for saying this but I would squirt a little fuel into my engines when they would gum up in storage. let it soak in a little before trying to turn the engine over then disassemble and soak the parts in fuel, rubbing alcohol or methanol if you have it. I used drug store rubbing alcohol as a kid because it was always there in the med. cabinet.
No, don't use drug store alcohol. It's usually 30% water. I put a needle valve assembly in some rubbing alcohol to soak and a week later the steel needle had completely rusted.