Huh??? I'm still trying to figure out what you're talking about.
First, pistons are in all cars, not just built engines. I dont understand how just replacing pistons will be the same as "dropping a turbo and boosting like 15 lbs. with no intercooler". Please enlighten me. If you mean that you need certain work done such as honing, or balancing before your pistons can be put on, then, yes, you are correct. But if you mean just replacing a different piston, then no sir, you are not correct.
Second, when did you have to cut a piston to fit directly onto a crank?? Hopefully, that was just a typing error . Besides, I really doubt that changing a c/r of 2 points is really going to ruin your motor. If anything, I would think you would worry about your rods or your cylinder walls before your crank. Even if you did somehow "break a crank" or something, a new small block will run you considerably less than "$1000". I can find one for a few hundred or less.