I just bought a 90 FLHTC with the engine in a bucket. The stock bores are almost gone on it, can I just put a hone on the bores and use an oversized rings on the stock pistons or do I need new pistons too? TIA for any help

 

That question makes me think that you either have no experience working on engines, or this is a joke...

Giving the benefit of the doubt here:

Take the cylinders to a reputable Harley machinist, have him bore the cylinders and provide you with the proper pistons/rings.

 

super +1 mr. dan
here is the issue with that. say you have bore taper near or out of spec, if you re-ring with over size rings, it will destroy them in short order. rings are dynamic and expand/contract to bore so when you go from excess clearance to near stock bore, the end gaps will close and probably break the rings and IF you are lucky it may not destroy the bore further.
ok? but what IF i custom cut the rings??? you might solve one issue but remember, rings are dynamic they expand/contract so now the rings are doing double duty and will fatigue in short order.
i do not suggest snake oil but there is a product that works and that is RESTORE.
i have a daughter who i gave a nisan pulsar to, great for college trips but it used a lot of oil so i tried restore and it cut it in have till i could do the engine justice. i did not want to chance a young girl and oil level. search youtube on the stuff, it contains silver, lead and copper particles that fill in small gaps, but it is a long term solution, aka, have to continue using it.
if she smokes, register it with the state as mosquito control vehicle.

 

If this engine is already in a bucket you probably have more issues than what you think.
How did you determine it’s even on the stock bore?
You are basically wasting money if you don’t clean up the bore to the first oversize usually .10 and hone.

 

1990 Big Twin crankcases are not a good starting point for a ground up rebuild from a bucket...

What you may have is a bucket of scrap parts.