How to store the bike safely with head off?

[DT175 1978]

I'm very new to working on bikes and have a question on how to store my "work in progress" while I'm working on it. I'm not able to bring the bike in doors / into a shop. I usually park under a "carport".

I need to remove my exhaust system, head, and cylinder on my DT175E. I expect to have enough work to do before reasembly that I have these pieces off for some period of time. It is possible that I may get stuck on something small and end up having the head off quite some time.

What precautions should I take to aviod things like dust and moisture from entering the engine?

In the carport I normally park under, it stays dry from rain but it is a bit of a dusty area as fine dust from the gravel driveway drifts in pretty heavily whenever a car is coming or going. I also worry about moisture from the air as I live in an area that rains often.

I thought that I would just try to cover / wrap up the whole bottom end with plastic or something to cover up the piston and opening (piston in proper holding fixture per shop manual) to keep stuff out.

Does that sound okay? Is there a better way?

Thanks and sorry for such a 'newbie' question.

[Airhead]

Ahh just stuff some rags around the mouth of the crankcase and throw a sheet / tarpaulin over the bike, she'll be just fine i'm sure under the carport

[DT175 1978]

Okay. Now that's what I want to hear!

I want to, get it apart, and then take my time getting everything right. I'll follow your advice from the other thread and check out the piston and rings, decarbonize and clean up everything, and check for any other obvious issues before considering reasembling with new gaskets (and I'll look for real copper / NOS / the brand you recomended.)

Sound okay? I'll report back if I run into any questions or issues along the way.

Thank you for all of your help over the last few days, I really do appriciate it.