If there is more than .005" of cylinder taper, you're going to have a short-life ring job regardless of how you deglaze the cylinders. Here's a quick way to check: Put a compression ring into the cylinder and square it up against the top of the ring travel, about 1/4" from the top of the block. Stack up feeler gauge blades to measure the ring gap. Push the ring to the bottom of its travel with a piston, and measure again. Subtract the bottom reading from the top, and divide by 3. The result will be a good estimate of taper. If it's over .005" the rings will be constantly changing diameter to try to maintain contact with the cylinder walls. At 2,000 RPM, that diameter change is happening 66 times a second. It doesn't take long for a ring to lose its tension doing that!
If you choose to deglaze and re-ring the engine, scrub the bore repeatedly with a stiff-bristle brush, strong detergent, and HOT water, then rinse several times with boiling water. If the cylinder doesn't flash-rust as soon as it dries, it's not clean enough.
Jerry
