[cdowns]

if i were you i'd wait till springtime and see how bad it's gotten then get in there with something like a 3"wire wheel and get the main areas of peeling and or flaking paint clean real good with degreaser use metal prep on the block and try touching up the area with spray engine enamel and primer.
the only other alterinitive is to yank the engine and get the whole thing down to bare metal and start from square one