96-98 stock pistons, are they really that bad

[Unit 5302]

Porting isn't going to do anything for CR. You'll be sitting at 10.3-10.9:1 depending on how good the heads are cast from the factory. All porting does is change the intake and exhaust ports, not change the combustion chamber size.

Forged pistons with a 17cc dish, like the 99+ will give you a good CR to work with for a blower car.

If you stick a blower on with the stock pistons, you could have one cylinder sitting at nearly 11:1 CR and 8psi on top of that. With cast pistons, you're either going to lose the head gasket, or you're gonna lose a piston.