I would use a borescope to look inside the cylinder before I pulled the head.
If you don't have one go to a shop that has.
Don't buy a cheap camera scope, they are useless for this kind of work.

Pistons only get holes if there is something wrong, like not enough fuel in that cylinder. You have to fix that.

Rob

If the shops which had a scope didnt want $100 to look, maybe. I guess the only real fear is if it dropped a valve, but the fact its making some compression kind of rules that out.

Ideally I would prefer to just sell the car the way it sits and wash my hands of it. I have enough trouble at the moment without opening another can of worms.