I'm working on a small engine that has low compression when turning it over by hand, seems to be low on power and mucks the oil up quickly. I'm guessing low compression due to worn rings/bore/piston. 

Anyway, since it's a shitty little engine and I don't wanna spend the cash on a new cylinder I'm wondering if I I could get away with just honing the cylinder? Or would a bore and an oversize piston be a better idea? (If that's cheaper than a new cylinder)

You need to get in there and measure the cyl.

Most times its the rings that have worn. In engines 'soft wears hard' and if the bore is within reasonable limits a quick blitz with some glass paper and a set of rings may keep it running cost efectively for some time.

Worked on several of my old cars and motorcycles in the past.

I even ground a set of oversize rings down sufficiently to keep my old cb125 on the road. Was a nail though. And i was propper balls to the wall skint at the time.

5 hours ago, Cynic said:

You need to get in there and measure the cyl.

Most times its the rings that have worn. In engines 'soft wears hard' and if the bore is within reasonable limits a quick blitz with some glass paper and a set of rings may keep it running cost efectively for some time.

Worked on several of my old cars and motorcycles in the past.

I even ground a set of oversize rings down sufficiently to keep my old cb125 on the road. Was a nail though. And i was propper balls to the wall skint at the time.

Yep that's me, I have literally 80p to my name right now. I'm probably work out some transport in the mean time and rip it apart as soon as I can get my hands on a torque wrench to nip the head bolts down with. 

I'll probably go with a new set of rings, new piston, kick it and see what happens. A new piston and rings is only £25-30 (for shite Chinese parts but they'll do), can't get any worse I suppose...