Where did you get this number? Are you refering to the factory advertised rating of 8.5-1? They never even got close to that in the real world. More like 7.9-8.0 to 1.
My personal opinion, and many will not agree. It is more labor intensive, but most bang for the buck. Pull the head and mill it to raise the compression ratio. How much depends on whether you are OK with premium, or reguler fuel. Better fuel economy, and more power. No down side. Then after that, you can add bolt ons, as the budget allows.
PS: You can always get a spare head, have it done (make sure the valves are in good shape, and maybe a little bowl blending), the just swap heads, over a weekend.[/QUOTE]
I'll consider this for sure. But that's my current cold compression. If that makes sense. Advertised off the floor is 8.2-8.5:1. So my educated guess is my rings are worn.
