Vett,
Advancing the port timing can produce more power, but you may loose low end torque. Stuffing the case and increasing compression usually works better. Eleminating restrictions to charge flow also help a lot. Freeing fuel charge trapped in the piston has always been a good way to increase torque. You may want to pick a good used engine as a platform for your experiments. Here is a G23 ported piston and a stock piston.

Dave