“Turned out that the rotors were on backward (as I recall), and the rings on the pistons were in a line,”
Both of those are practically impossible. Piston rings rotate, that part of the reason for the crosshatch hone pattern. Rotors cannot be installed backwards, the offset wouldn’t allow caliper installation.
I know a guy who drives a tow truck. Recently he went to pick up a Tesla that ran out of power. My friend asked, don’t you wish I could just pour a gallon of gas in it and you could drive away. They owner had an attitude so my friend instigated. Asked the owner to put the car in neutral so he could pull it up on the tow truck. He knew full well the car would not do this with out power, but the owner did not. The owner tired and became frustrated. The two truck driver then said, watch how you have to tow these cars. He hooked the cable up and dragged the car onto the truck. The owner then mumbled “junk”.
Piston rings don't rotate. Some pistons even have a peg installed in the ring lands to restrict the range of movement in case they do shift. But, they usually don't move much. The crosshatch hone pattern is to set up a proper wear surface between the new rings and the cylinder wall, thus "seating" the rings.
Both of those are practically impossible.
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Nonetheless, when disassembled those were the findings which I saw personally - I can’t quite remember what the exact thing was on the disk breaks, but it was something like that ; of the rings, I remember that very clearly - you do know its been 46 years?
Not even with a big hammer?