I still contend that most if not all of these failures have been detonation induced.
buckshot and burrita's failures involved melted areas on the pistons, this is indicitive of excess heat (duh), which may be due to the knock sensor retarding timing from excessive low level detonation. The others, where the ring lands are broken, may not have had time to melt anything, and a good, but quick bit of detonation may have been enough to cause it.
Remember, that the ring lands are typically the weakest area of a piston, and especially on a hypereutectic cast piston. These are the areas most sensitive to detonation damage.
Granted, this is just educated speculation, but I don't think there is any reason to freak out thinking these pistons are junk or anything, they are just not designed to handle the detonation that a lot of you guys are flirting with on these high compression duratecs, whether that high compression is purely static, or is dynamic (ie NA or forced induction)
If you want to make a durable motor, you have to do your homework
all the way through and not just at random points.
1) When you start planning the motor, think logically about what you plan to do with it, and choose an appropriate CR, including dynamic CR (dynamic CR= static CR+ CR related to added boost) Perhaps an 11.2:1 static CR really
isn't a good idea in a daily driver that runs on pump gas . . .
2) When putting your motor together, make sure you understand how the parts are interacting. One thing that has concerned me (I have no idea how well founded these concerns are though) is using 2.5L heads on a 3L block, because I have no idea what you are doing to the "squish band" because of the difference in the cylinder bore on the 3L and the 2.5L that the combustion chamber on the head is designed for. An improper squish band, as well as any hot spots induced in the combustion chamber can have a huge affect on how and when detonation occurs. As for me, I honestly don't know jack about the details of the squish band, and I wouldn't touch it myself without several very long conversations with both piston and head engineers/manufacturers/designers.
3) You can do all of your assembly and porting and other hard part work exactly right, but if you bugger the tune, you are screwed just as quickly. I think we all know Rick's (buckshot) first failure was most definately caused by a bad tune (or a tune not done yet
) just becuase Rick got a bit impatient before he could get the tune done.
Fuel and timing maps are of the utmost importance both for making optimal power and keeping your car running safely and reliably. OEMs spend thousands of hours perfecting the tune for power, driveability, durability, and emissions for every single possible powertrain combination they offer; do you really think that a simple one shot deal with an SAFC on your local backroad with a very inexperienced engine tuner (you, or most everyone you know) is enough to ensure that you have things set up safely and for optimum power?
Take the time to do it right; there are so many alternative routes to arrive at a proper tune, there really is no excuse for not doing it right. And if I hear "money" as an excuse from anyone, I will beat you about the head neck and chest with a wideband O2 sensor. It will cost you a lot more money in the long run to not do it right the first time. Ask Rick how much his one little incident of impatience has cost him . . .
There is so much more, but this is the gist of it. Now go do your own homework, the info is out there, you just have to look for it, and learn how to discern the good from the bad.
Geez, why do my technical posts always turn into books??? 
