Rebuild Engine vs Junk Yard Swap

[spicypeanut]

I'm trying to figure out what I should do. Currently the factory EA71 motor I have in in pieces at my mechanics shop. If you've been following my resurrection thread you've seen the photos.

 

The cold hard facts:

Original EA71 motor dropped a valve and shot it through the passenger side head. I picked up a second motor. Junk yard EA71, all I know about it is that if I put a wrench on the crank it turns over. And it looks like it's been out in the elements for years.

 

If I have the original motor rebuilt, will that make the Brat any more desirable having a fresh motor in it rather than a junk yard motor with god knows how much miles on it?

 

If I was buying it, I would rather the car have a freshly built motor rather than the unknown installed. Not only does that provide piece of mind about the motor but it also leads me to believe the previous owner wanted to do it right.

 

[the sucker king]

i'd put the junkyard motor in it. If it runs good then your done. In the eyes of if I was buying it- if it ran good I wouldn't care where the engine came from.

[sjschlag]

How many miles did the junkyard motor look like it had on it? How much do you trust your mechanic  ?

 

You're taking a gamble with the junkyard motor...it could run really well or...not. If you find some new heads for that other EA71 you have, you at least have the peace of mind knowing that it was rebuilt...depending on how much you trust the guy working on it!

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Why not to make one engine from the Two?

 

I mean, to disassemble the Junk Yard one to take its heads and do the Valve job;

 

then decide which block you'll use by seeing its internals.

 

Kind Regards.

[idosubaru]

that's what i was thinking - install another head if the block isn't hosed.

 

they're robust engines and totally worth keeping if there's any indication it's in decent shape.

 

why is the mileage unknown on the junkyard engine? 

if it's a craigslist special and the guy said he "forgot" then that means it's 200,000 miles.  he wouldn't "forget" if it had 40,000.

 

is there any oil in the pan or oil filter to take an oil sample from - have it sent for UOA?

do a leak down test on the junk yard engine?

[bertmann73]

i would pop the pistons out seeing as you already have the motor out and replace the rod bearings ...this is easy to do....if there is no right or left movement when pulling the front pulley the main bearings should be fine...but a few hours more you can split the block and replace all. honing tools are cheap and so are std rings on ebay to deglaze the cylinders. i usually do 50 stokes on each cylinder and replace the rings... peice of mind is a re-build. and bragging rights are"I did it"  i used the"how to keep your subaru alive" PDF as a guide when i got my first soob and its written so any dummy can follow it. you will be surprised how easy these engines are to re-build and fun also.

[WoodsWagon]

Put the junkyard engine in and see how it runs. Odds are if it turns over it will run. Then include the busted engine in the sale. I wouldn't want an engine someone I didn't know rebuilt, especially if it was done just before selling the car.

[spicypeanut]

So I currently am in the process of having the original motor rebuilt. The spare motor I had was torn down enough that we found water in places that shouldn't have had water in it, along with some rust. So I'm glad I didn't just try to use it as is. Once the motor gets rebuilt I am planning on using the Brat so that should prove quite quickly the fresh motors reliability. Thank you all for the input.