I've been told that by a good friend who is a mechanic as well, so I suppose it's a good idea.
I looked at them, ran the pistons up and down, the right cylinder that has been leaking extra oil thru the valve guide is superb, super smooth and clean.
the pistons themselves are rock solid in the bores, no shifting about on thier rings, etc.
the other side, the only dry spot in my pic, looks to actually have a small bit of pitting on the inside wall. :-(
I've often admitted just how much I don't know on here before, so I'll ask, if the pistons seem tight, the compression was good (100+ on both sides), what would it hurt to run it a while longer this way? I don't mean to be a dumbbutt DPO, and I certainly don't want to do any damage to this beautiful machine, but honestly, if I'm going to have to rebore, get new pistons and rings, etc, what harm could I cause running it another year in this condition? again, I don't say that as an "I've seen it all and know what I'm talking about", I honestly want to know the repercussions?
from what I (think I) know, I guess I might get some of the combustion gasses into the crank cases thru the minor pitting, and without knowing the tolerances of my skirt clearance, etc, do I run the risk of the piston wobbling off to the side and jamming(?) what else am I not even vaguely aware of?
I'm a bit of the thought to pony up on the head work this year, put it back together and run it thru the season, hoping to get the super rocket done right in the meantime, since it is in even further disassembly, and then trade off, doing the full bottom end, barrels, etc on the spitfire?
am I being a dipstick? (I'll keep it clean as we have expressed that this is a family site ;-) )
thanks for the great advice everyone!!