Got it all back together today. The piston had a little bit of scoring, but was in pretty good shape otherwise. No cracks or anything in the skirt. Cylinder wall also looked ok. There were one or two very slight scratches that I could barely feel with my fingernail. Not enough to concern me, so I threw it all back together.
Kicking it over the first few times was very nerve racking as I had never done this type of work before. She fired up on the second kick and after I got the idle dialed in it seemed to run great. After a couple heat cycles I took it down the driveway a few times. Holy. ****. Power everywhere. Crisp throttle. Third gear power wheelies.
Now in addition to the new top end, I had my head and carb modified by RB and also installed some boyseen reeds. So I'm not sure how much each addition benefited alone but all of them together is just great. Can't wait to actually take it out in the woods.