Hey all:

 

I'm an old gen guy, but I want to get my wife a new gen car. I found a 2000 legacy outback wagon with 170k mile and a blown motor for $1500. I'm thinking about buying it and getting a used motor for it and installing it myself. I'm not concerned about the mechanical aspects of this as I'm fairly capable in the mechanical department, but does $1500 seem like a reasonable price? Anyone have any ideas on the prices for used phase II short blocks? Any input appreciated. Thanks.

 

Daniel

$1,500 seems high for a car with 170K on the odo, and a bad motor. $750 or a few bucks more would be a good price in my opinion. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

Lots written on this forum, and found in the archives about rebuilding phase 2 motors, or swapping in a 2.2 motor. You may want to read some of those earlier posts.

I wouldn't pay more than 1000.00 for it. You are going to put alot of work into it replacing the motor. The car is, in effect, a junker and you are going to resurrect it. I got my last 99 for 500.00 and it runs great now.

 

What is wrong with the motor? If it just needs HG's, then I wouldn't put in another motor, I'd fix that one.

 

Good luck.

Hey all:

 

I'm an old gen guy, but I want to get my wife a new gen car. I found a 2000 legacy outback wagon with 170k mile and a blown motor for $1500. I'm thinking about buying it and getting a used motor for it and installing it myself. I'm not concerned about the mechanical aspects of this as I'm fairly capable in the mechanical department, but does $1500 seem like a reasonable price? Anyone have any ideas on the prices for used phase II short blocks? Any input appreciated. Thanks.

 

Daniel

 

The 1st thing I would do is look into getting a 2.2 for it. I'm not sure where you'd find a short block for it aside from a dealership. The 2.2's are more trouble free and a good used one would be a lot cheaper and less work than a short block. If everything eles is sound on it and its been well maintained $1500 is a good price.

it certainly depends on the overall condition of the vehicle as well, but $1,500 isn't unreasonable. if it's the car you want then price out the parts and buy it accordingly.

 

if it's listed at $1,500 and the motor is bad they'll probably take less.

 

i would definitely put an EJ22 in it before buying a used EJ25. the last thing you want is to go through all that work and end up with a bad EJ25 - head gaskets, rod bearing, piston slap, hole in the block. cheaper and better motor. CCR sells top of the line rebuilds if you're willing to pay. for an EJ25 it's worth it since used ones are so expensive (they're expensive because of how often they fail).

Well I didnt buy the car. The guy said it was clean, and he said it was red. I got there and it looked like it hadn't been washed for years and was brown. The interior was also thrashed and when he said nothing was broken he wasn't refering to things like the interior panels for the doors and liftgate, or the tail light assemblies. Oh well. Thanks for the input everyone.

 

Daniel