When i installed my Bill Blue 351 a few months back, I made a mistake. The oil control ring was over lapping and would not sit in the groove proper. I could not get the piston into the cylinder. I foolishly snipped the oil control ring so that there wasn't any clearance thinking that this would be okay. Long story short, the bike ran great, but i was noticing blue smoke on deceleration. I changed the valve guide seals, and this didn't help. I called up Bill, and he told me the oil control ring needs the spring tension to work and cutting it was my problem. Sure enough I found there to be a large gap in the o.c.r when I took the piston off the bike.
Here's my question.... Do I need to re-hone the cylinder and replace all the rings, or can I just replace the oil control ring and put everything back together?
Bill sent me all the rings and said I need to re-hone...I don't think it's necessary but would like a second opinion.
Any thoughts??
Thanks

 

Is it necessary? No.
Do you want to tear it all down and do it the right way, if you can't get the rings to seat?

 

I'd replace all the rings since you have them. Give the cylinder a good visual inspection, look for scoring, pitting etc. Measure it for correct bore diameter and roundness. If this all checks out give it a quick deglazing and slap her back together.