I know you said you're trying not to spend much money, but I'd really like to see someone do a G23 VTEC with the longer rods/short compression height pistons that bisi offers. That'd make good use of the F23's stroke, while greatly improving the r/s ratio of the block. You could even order the pistons in a 12+ compression.
That does sound like a pretty enticing idea. I'll look into this. Do you have a link to the rod and piston combo?