[e015475]

There's a couple of other ways of doing this too.

You can by complete vehicles out of the insurance pool in your area. The one here in Phoenix requires you to be a member, but it's free to the general public if you want to go to the auction. I know a few guys that have gotten their engines for 'free' by buying complete and parting it out on CL. The problem is always the space to dismantle/store the vehicle, dealing with CL flakes and what to do with the carcass. My wife would kill me.

Another option is the self serve junkyards. They post new arrivals daily on Row52.com and you can put in an alert in to notify you when the make model you're looking for comes into a yard. I've looked at a couple of motors on CL where the seller said that that's were they got them. The problem is you need to go there immediatly and pull it yourself, you're competing with a bunch of guys trying to make a quick buck, and its 115F here during the day, so screw that.

I did buy an LS1 once from Texas, sight unseen. When it arrived, there was dirt and dead grass in a substantial hole in the pan. Must have been a hell of a wreck. LKQ took it back and had another one shipped form one of their yards.

The other engines I bought were less than 30 miles from the house. Before I buy them, I always ask if I can pull a valve cover and inspect the valve train. You can tell by looking if the motor has had regular oil changes. There should be no sludge and everything should be a light golden color inside

Headers and that Spectre intake the OPs first post would have spooked me from the get go.