My 1985 Phazer had over 19,000 miles on it and the motor had never been touched when I put a used piston and rings on one side (it only had 3,500 miles on it!). And the only reason it needed the piston was because the oil feed line had come off that side years before and caused a seizure. I put the oil line back on, dumped a little oil in the cylinder and started it up and kept using it. Ran great.
After a few thousand miles a knock on that side at idle that was getting louder started to bother me. The old piston had a cracked skirt.
Never touched the cylinder, it was well within wear limits. Used one half of a new base gasket on that side, same head gasket. It was a little low on power until the rings seated in. Runs fine now.