does anyone make high compression pistons for a 170

OK, will do when I get that spare one! Just seems an easy way to get torque/HP..... keep your eyes and ears open, you might just stumbel across one cheap and have a way to spend less.

BTW, I raced a screamer engine for many years that was good for 8000 rpm + (Opel 1.9L) and that had the large bore / short stroke combo, big cam and carb and all that; great at top end but nothing below 4k. Light switchy' to the max as RRR puts it and very much like a 2 stoke moto engine with nuthin' at low RPM. I COULD drive it on the street but was not a 'streetable' combo. And for the racing use (rally) the 4000-8000 RPM range was too narrow; extending the RPM range down to 3500 with some smaller sidedraft carbs was well worth it in actual usable performance, and I should have done more for the low end in retrospect. It would end up in no-man's land in the tall 2-3 shift; not slow enough for 2nd gear and too slow to be well up on the torque curve for 3rd, and stage times suffered on some twisty mid-speed roads. My later Plymouth Arrow 1.6L with a different approach for much better mid range torque was actually quicker with an excellent 1500-6500 rpm range with usabel torque, and did not have any gearing 'dead-zones'. (But everyone told me that they knew the sound of my Opel engine coming through the woods so I guess I got SOMETHING out of it LOL...)

For street, you are wise to take the advice to go the other ways. Save the high stall, high RPM, max HP approach for a strip engine and concentrate on good low and mid-range torque; good mid range HP will flow from that and the car will be snappy and FUN to drive. Head out east from where yo live and driving a good torque-engined car in the Southern Missouri hills will be a great driving expereince, and with the torque ready to go, you will always be ready to attack a corner and hang the rear end out, not backing off of a hard corner because you don't know exactly when the 'light switch' will come on.

And low RPM engines attract the police less readily....