i did the hone, rings and bearings thing to lots of motors back in the 70s & 80s. Some saw a lot of miles afterwards. I have a ridge reamer, but unless the ridge was huge, I didn't use it often. it was a royal pain in the butt. to use, then left a pile of junk to clean up.
My concern about just getting the motor that has been sitting for 10 years would be if the rings would reseat or not. Sitting a couple years would be OK, but 10 is pushing it. I've replaced a lot of motors with other used motors over the years, and that was my findings.
With a Mopar motor built before about 2000, new valve seals are almost a must.
I’m doing the valve seals but wondering how rings go bad just sitting over time? Rusting?
If the motor has been sitting 10 years, the odds are the motor has not been turned over in that time frame either. The cylinders of concern are the cylinders that have sat for 10 years with valves open. Its hard to tell what may have entered those cylinders. The rings can and do stick to the cylinder walls, and the rings can and do stick in the piston grooves, and well worn rings can loose their tension. Carbon build up from when it did run can set up pretty hard over time, rust particles, if not bad, can actually reseat the rings, but if the rings get stuck in the piston grooves, they often will not free up with out being removed, and the grooves are cleaned. At that point not putting new rings in doesn't make much sense to me. Sometimes running the motor frees them up, but sometimes it doesn't.
