Hot take: Is it worth rebuilding an old subaru engine or just swapping in a junkyard motor?

I was at Pull-A-Part in Phoenix last weekend and saw a guy pulling a complete EJ25 from a 2005 Outback with 180k miles on it. He swore rebuilding his original would cost more in machine shop time than just grabbing a used one and slapping it in. So what do you all think, is a fresh rebuild worth the extra money and downtime or are junkyard swaps the smarter play for daily drivers?

4 comments

4 Comments

sage_green6d ago

Man, nobody's talking about the block casting differences between years yet.

paige3316d ago

Block casting differences are one of those things that really matter but nobody wants to dig into because it sounds boring. I read somewhere that the late 70s models had some subtle changes in the casting that made them less prone to cracking under high heat. There was a whole forum thread years back where a guy did a deep dive on the different foundry marks and what they meant for durability. It's wild how much the little details can change how a build holds up over time.

olivia_moore6d ago

Nobody mentions the sand cores either, those changed and caused thin spots.

phoenix2466d ago

That whole thing reminds me of how people treat houses the same way. You can have two houses built five years apart and one's got solid lumber and the other's got particle board everything, just because the mill changed suppliers. Same with tools and trailers, you learn to spot the good years by little things like weld patterns or how thick the metal is on the tongue. It's all just knowing where the shortcuts got taken and where they didn't.