[Lochlin]

Sorry about the delay with this one. I was away this weekend and, let's just say that my typing would have been very poor given my state for most of it. To answer everyone's questions:

The starter / gen, motor etc. are not locked up. The motor turns like a champ without the cylinder on it. It even turns without the head on it albeit slowly. It's almost like there is too much compression with the head on. The piton is definitely not hitting the head at TDC. The motor can be turned by hand, it's just tight.

The piston grooves are spotless. I cleaned them with a dremel tool equipped with a small brass brush. I have done this a number of times before and never had any issues like this. It's bizarre.

The rings are the right ones. I still have the old ones and they match up perfectly.

Really, the only other thing I did to this cylinder was hone it a bit. The cylinder is smooth and, in theory, should actually be less tight than it was before this work. Let me know if honing has ever caused anyone issues in the past, though.

All the same, a new piston rings arrived Saturday so I will try those out today. If that doesn't work (and I suspect it won't being that the new piston and rings look identical to old one) then I will just order up a new cylinder altogether.