Jthclaw

Hi all I am a first time user with a brand new toy in the garage picked up a used 99 outback with 109k and what appears to be a blown head gasket. Been building cars and doing motor swaps and American trucks for fun. 1 what is the best mother to put in place of this to make this car bullet proof not afraid of work but also not interested in a science project 2 if I go down the rebuild route I have 3 questions 2.1 what would a top end only with the heads reworked cost me 2.2 what would the bottom end cost if that is required as noted on a number of forums 2.3 where should I look for the machine work on block and heads in jersey but shipping is cheap so not worried about location 3 any really cool power upgrades that will still keep the motor reliable if I rebuild The last guy has installed new radiator water pump and thermostat stating the diagnostics tomorrow on the C02 in the radiator and compression test any other things to look for in testing car seem to run ok but it is missing a little with a check engine light that is on the list to decode. The car has also had the exhaust modified to make it less restrictive does this have any major impact on the motor it appears he did this about 2 months before he started having heating issues Thanks to all in advance