I take particular issue with the "not worth it" statement. It all depends on what you want.

My 91 2.6 was a complete dog when I got it. After getting the timing set right (was like 15 degrees retarded!), a complete tune-up, etc., it still was dangerous to drive in traffic.

I've got some engine experience behind me and I'm by no means anything more than a shadetree builder. I never touched the bottom end but did do a complete head job w/port and polish (lots of shaping), mill, newer Amigo IM, TB, MAF, filter, Calmini header, custom mandrel exhaust (all 2.25"), Delta cam... the thing is definitely a lot peppier. Sure, I have more hours in the truck than I'd like to recall, but it's all been a learning experience. I'm now extremely comfortable around a motor that when I first got the truck, I refused to work on.

If you are looking for higher CR there are a lot of things you can do- if you search for my posts here you can find some more performance discussion as well as info on the newer 2.3 heads which will seriously bump compression on the older blocks...

For more info, I'm uploading my old Trooper pages as we speak...

http://www.marcuccimotorsports.com/trooper/