If the cam and lifters are spalled, then you have to split the case anyway to replace them. If you are going to split the case on a 1700 hour engine, one might seriously consider doing the overhaul now instead of splitting the case again in a few hundred hours for a major. Getting the high compression STC has very significant benefits, and if done at overhaul can be done for the cost of the STC paperwork alone. (The pistons, at least for me, were the same price.) The extra power, while it doesn't sound like much, is in fact very significant for climb rate, which is proportional to EXCESS power. With the extra power possible, it is also possible to repitch the propeller as allowed by STC to gain a little extra top end speed at the cost of a little of the extra climb rate capability. The extra pitch also allows you to extract use all the engine power in cruise without exceeding redline. Of course, you will be limited to 100LL for fuel with the high compression pistons.
I was in a similar situation a few years ago with my AA-5 when my engine was at 1800 SMOH. The cam was worn and most of the lifters were starting to spall, so when I split the case I just decided to to the major, which required replacing a beyond-limits crank as well. During the MOH, I did the high compression STC at no additional cost except for the STC paperwork ($500). The HC STC engine was a bit overpowered for the stock prop (although it climbed like crazy), so I installed an STC bevel-tip prop that had 2 additional inches of pitch. This produced 3-4 knots extra top cruise speed at very little climb penalty, but more importantly, the engine is now more difficult to overspeed in cruise, and I can pretty much maintain rpm up to redline, if desired, as high as 10,000 feet. No way the stock engine does that. And the HC engine will get slightly better fuel specifics. I went from around 8.0 gph to around 7.6-7.8 gph at my usual cruise setting.
Don't expect a huge power boost by simply overhauling the engine. Moderately low compressions will not significantly affect power output, but it might increase oil consumption. My very tired engine with worm cams still got book speeds and fuel consumption right up until I removed it for overhaul. If you elect to do a major overhaul, there will never be a cheaper time to do the HC STC. The extra excess power is well worth it for a plane in this hp range.
