273 Cylinder Bore .004 over spec

Lets get real here. Post #27 is on the money. .006 or .007 clearance is not crazy loose. You probably can't even catch a finger nail at .006. Get the bores straight, round and put it back together. I like the idea of coating the piston skirts. I doubt the ring lands are shot. Get a good valve job and run it.
Real? You ever built one (on purpose) at .007 skirt clearance? I have. In fact I just did. I told my machinist to set the skirt clearance at .0075 because of the way the engine will be used. Turbocharged in a boat constantly loaded. He didn’t want to do it said the pistons came (Mahle before you ask) at .005 and that’s where we should run it. I said make it .0075. I’ll tell you this it ain’t no minivan where you turn the key and go jump on the freeway before things get up to temp. You have to warm it up, you have to get the oil hot before putting the coals to it, or you’ll be picking up pieces of piston off the ground. That’s real. No bullshit. His is too damn loose to throw back together and run it. The DLC coating is a good idea and will work. They can coat pretty damn thick and it’s abradable so it will wear in its own running clearance. But other than that, it needs to go to the machine shop.