My son has a 1993 subaru loyale, i think the motor has seen better days, replaced head gaskets, took care of over heating but is still burning oil. Wondering if we should replace piston rings or try something else ie: engine swap? If so cheapest fix?

How many miles on the engine?

165000

How bad were the overheating events?  I had one that experienced a pretty bad overheat - about a gallon short on coolant.  It burned oil like mad after I resealed it.  I just ran old oil and cheap oil through it for the rest of it's life.  Like a quart per tank of gas.  The only reason I stopped running it was one of the heads eventually cracked so the coolant would leak out the exhaust port.

Overheated almost immediately. Changed head gaskets and took care of the overheating, but oil is needed after almost every time its driven.

Rering it. GD says don’t hone it or you’ll have issues.

 

Or get another block.

Have you done any tests on it -- Compression tests?  vacuum tests ?  Is there a lot of smoke from the exhaust when you drive or a pool of oil in the driveway ?

Low compression on all cylinders, white smoke, no oil visible.

White smoke should be coolant.  Watch the level very closely.

Coolant is perfect, no leaks.

Not looking for external leaks - Don't just check by looking at the level in the recovery tank.  Other possible cause of white smoke is only if it has an automatic transmission.  Vacuum modulator.  Look for ATF in the vacuum line down on the side where it connects to the modulator.

It is a automatic,ill check the ATF.

I agree white smoke is not normally burning oil.

 

If you're getting low compression, did you try doing a wet/dry test ?  I also recommend a vacuum test to check to confirm if the low compression problem is rings or valves.