New pistons seem like they're pretty expensive.

What parts of the pistons wear? The ring

guides? Do they get pitted from pinging? What are

the drawbacks to reusing pistons that are in pretty

goodshape (so long as the cylinder walls are okay

and soon)? Also what about the deves reringing kits

that IPD sells -- how do they impact the quality of

the rebuild?

Specifically my 1968 144 with the original B18

smokes a *lot* on hot starts, has rotten (but even)

dry compression and pretty good wet compression,

and has really bad blowby (I pump 1qt of oil out the

top of the motor if I drive for 60 minutes on the

freeway). I've never had the head off of this car,

but since it has only 142000 miles I don't expect

there to be much wear on the cylinder walls. I was

planning on replacing the timing gear, cam, lifters,

and replacing the rings or rings + pistons, and

replacing the lower main / rod bearings (if they're

worn). The only reason I want to rebuild the motor

is to address the blowby problem, which I haven't

been able to fix otherwise, so I can drive the car

long distances without running the motor clean out

of oil and making it go boom. Otherwise, the car's

perfect.

Obviously you're not going to be able to tell me if

my car needs new pistons, but has anyone ever reused

the old pistons with new rings? How long did the motor

last? Would you do it again?

Thanks,

chris