98 Forester, Fix or Sell?

[saucymonkey]

So my girlfriend broke the timing belt on her 98 forester, and now its going to need a lot more than just a timing belt. The car has 192,000 miles. It's not in the very good condition cosmetically, but it does have 4 new tires and a new windshield, the only things it would need for the next inspection are all 4 shocks and a rear swaybar link according to the shop. Were very torn as to what to do. I't looks like the cheapest fix we can come up with is a complete used (160,000) engine for 900 +about 700-900 installation. I've also been considering those JDM engines on ebay but i don't think that's something the shop its at now(the Warren Auto Barn) would be into. I am probably capable of fixing the car myself but i have absolutely no time right now, and it would be quite a steep learning curve for me because i have never worked on a subaru engine before. The shop said they would buy the car off us for about $200, but it might be worth my while to part it out ourselves, I would think the aluminum wheels and new tires are worth at least that much. Its not an obvious choice, what would you guys recommend? Anyone have a good engine they'd like to sell, are their other easy engine swaps available? -Chris

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[-=Lobstah=-]

Depends on your finances and how much you like the car. I'd fix it

 

[-=Lobstah=-]

And yeah, i think we've discussed Warren Auto Barn here on MS a couple of times

 

[Matt]

your car according to kbb in the worst possible condition is worth about 2500....since it needs a motor now id say knock another 1500 off from that, if you do get a used motor id do the timing belt, wp and anything else before the install... maybe 500 in parts for the struts....so maybe the cars worth 750-1000??? id say for the amount of money the cars going to need to be able to run and then inspection items it may be worth buying something else and either parting it out or selling as a non runner...my 2cents

 

[GREASEMONKEY]

i have a 2.5 SOCH motor for sale..... ill let it go for $400.

 

[IBratmanI]

Don't go to Warren Auto Barn

 

[saucymonkey]

Really? They've been pretty good to us. The bill is always shockingly expensive, but I do almost all my own work on my cars so I just figured that was typical. I'll be sending out some pm's shortly thanks for the responses. -Chris

 

[IBratmanI]

Yeah they have F'd up a lot of peoples cars and then try to say it wasn't them. And for the quality of work, they are very expensive!!

 

[Evan]

your 98 is a dohc and a sohc isn't a drop in solution, its a whole computer swap etc.

if you're going to part it out then at the very least i would sell the wheels and tires then scrap the shell. last i knew it was about $100/ton for cars and that's probably 1.5 tons. the hassle is involved tough.

the question is: its $1600-1800 for the new motor, would a new car be cheaper?

 

[saucymonkey]

Yeah, I thought that was the case with the SOHC motor, I did get a PM from a member though who says he has the right motor so I'm going to follow up on that. I'm new here but so far I'm impressed with this forum, Its good to know there is such a cool community of people right here in the northeast.

 

[Legacy22GT]

You might want to check on craigslist or something for some other foresters. I've seen a lot lately with just the head gasket problems. you may be able to skate out of the whole thing with just buying one and replacing the gasket. then you could use yours as parts and sell it after.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Nicklepage1010]

WRX swap?! god thatd be sweet.

 

[Meyagi]

its all fixed, i swapped in a good running 2.5 i had in the shed. Thanks for the business Chris, lmk if you need anything else!

 

[saucymonkey]

Thank you, you saved us a pile of cash!

 

[inski]

Cool ending to a scary story!