Granted, the bores are not what they should be but I have always understood that unsupported oil ring is a no no for the street. Even Rich in his blook says to stay away from it.
I'm sure it's said to stay away from it. Sometimes you can't. But oil consumption because the oil ring isn't supported 100% by aluminum but is supported 90% or even 80% by aluminum and the rest by steel doesn't affect oil control as I've seen it.
The biggest things for oil control are bore geometry, crankcase pressure and second ring design.
To me, oil ring placement is like connecting rod side clearance. It's been taught wrong for decades and sometimes still is. I suspect long after I'm dead someone will still go berserk because the side clearance was over .024 or some silly number such as that.
I'd hate to see you spend a bunch of time and money and not fix the issue. IMHO, your problem isn't in oil ring placement.
But I've been wrong before. Just ask my wife.
EDIT: I should add the biggest oil burner I've seen was a customer who did his own engine assembly. The engine was a mosquito killer and the blame went to me for my honing procedure.
When the customer finally got tired of bitching about how crappy my cylinder honing was, he pulled the engine to take it apart so it could have the bores "touched up" by a "real machinist" who understood "how to run an F'ing hone".
The bad thing was...once it was apart, he realized HE didn't install the oil ring spacer.
Of course, he didn't go back to the track for 4 consecutive weeks and tell everyone who would listen how stupid the engine assembler was.
I post that because 1. It's damn funny and 2. Because stuff happens. It's not always what is blatantly obvious that is the issue.
