best place to buy a used engine?

[Zombaja]

so my Baja Turbo's engine is for all intents and purposes, dead.

And I only had the thing since April. Sold the motorcycle to get it too, and am now with no motor transportation for the wife and I.

Rebuild costs and installation estimates are coming in around $7K, and for some reason, the KBB of Baja Turbos has dropped over $2K since spring this year.

So it's looking like there's no way I can get the money to spend 7K on an 8K car. Best I could borrow is 5K.

So it's either junk the car or try to get lucky and find a reliable junkyard engine.

Any recommendations?

[theluckyone17]

Where 'bouts are you? And do you have someone to perform a swap for you? Figured if you were asking the question, you wouldn't be swapping it yourself.

[Zombaja]

nope. not doing it myself. I live in an apartment with no garage. Not sure I have the skills anyway.

Car's in a shop in San Jose, CA. Most of the local yards don't have usable EJ255's since they've been gobbled up for WRX/STi performance builds. What are left are as bad as mine or worse. Looking at ones out of state but the rebuilds with warranty are similar in price as my estimate, or no warranty whatsoever. eBay doesn't inspire me with confidence, and even with luck, I'd be in over $5K with the cheapest non warranty engine Ive found so far.

was hoping someone had a recommendation or knew of one hidden somewhere. fingers crossed but this car has been the opposite of good luck for me.

[randy]

Try LKQ they are base in Stockton or Venus motorsports in Sacramento.

[Zombaja]

Already tried LKQ, just checked Venus, nothing in an EJ255 DOHC.

So far the only "hits" we've found are one with 180K miles (no way) and one in Florida but the price listed is too good to be true, and the seller hasn't responded to inquiries made three days ago.

this being CA, there is no reasonable legal means of putting in anything else than exactly what was in the car too.

[bajaguy]

If you've got someone to do a swap you might just consider a donor car. Check iaai.com and make friends with a car dealership. Shouldn't an outback engine be identical? I know the tranny isn't...

[Zombaja]

we were unsuccessful in finding a donor car that cost less than buying a rebuilt motor, seems the EJ255 is too popular to sit around the yards for long.

Going with a new shortblock and rebuilding my existing heads.

[Hawk296]

http://www.flatironstuning.com/p-970-20 ... block.aspx

plus shipping, gasket kit and cleaning up the heads and it's still waay cheaper.

What happened to the original engine? what failed?

[Zombaja]

burned an exhaust valve, probably due to weak injector. It hung up on the piston.