re
They are all cooked in solid from  overheating."

as stuck in sludge, or as in partially welded in place in the pistons ?

in any case.....sometimes you have to dig them out, starting at their end
gaps, like with a small screw driver or punch and hammer.

the ring grooves in the pistons need to be in pretty good condition.
is there barrel metal galled onto the thrust faces of the pistons much ?
Sounds like it might be a 'semi-forgetabout-it' situation.
Like new rings might not work anyway, with the pistons and barrels if they
were badly overheated.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Dearing" <VWBrain@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2011 5:48 AM
Subject: Re: Rings are stuck ...

>I would be worried about the clylinders also  later  mark d
>
>
> In a message dated 5/26/2011 11:03:08 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> vw.doka@GMAIL.COM writes:
>
> If it  got that hot, the rings are shot.  Just pull them out and don't
> worry
> about breakage.  A small screwdriver in the ring gap should do  the trick.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Jeff
>
>
> -----Original  Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]  On Behalf
> Of
> HotelWestfalia
> Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 7:04 PM
> To:  vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Rings are stuck ...
>
> Hi to  all,
> I have the four pistons out and would like to free the rings from all  the
> four of them out.  They are all cooked in solid from  overheating.  I
> don't
> know a sure way of getting them free  again.  Would it be some kind of
> boiling them in something for a few  hours?
> Anyone knows this?
> Best  wishes,
> Zoltan