I bought a used 79 200 which had a blown piston-many in the 1983 timeframe. Had the original high-ring pistons. My 1983 2.6 also had the high ring pistons from the factory.
The 2.6 didn't change as it was considered a HP motor and should had the scallop cut pistons. OMC actually up to about 81-82 would give you the replacement low ring pistons at no charge it you had one pop..There are still a lot of high ring motors out there still running....
I bought the 2.6 as a non-running engine. Found 4 original pistons with the high ring and cutouts. One of them had shelled out the ringset-but no head damage. Two newer stock pistons with low top ring and no cutout. All in the same block. Only one reed box still had the single white petal composite reeds left. All the rest had been switched to metal. Must have been worked on by a true shade tree mechanic.
