Lil'John
SILVER Star
Are you asking reliable? Or 'functional'?
For reliable, any engine will last for 100s of thousands of miles with proper maintenance... some just last better with piss poor maintenance.
In my opinion, a warranty on an engine is a red herring argument. In my experience, an engine will fail darn near at the start or last way outside of warranty. So getting a 6 month junkyard warranty engine will be good enough to find out if the engine is good or not.
For functional, I wouldn't go carb even if I got the engine for free... ever. My home elevation is 3500'(outside Georgetown, CA). My work elevation is sea level(Sacramento). My wheeling elevation is 6000'+(Rubicon, Gold Lake, Fordyce). EFI allows for just drive and go. It also allows for 'consistent' adjustments.
For reliable, any engine will last for 100s of thousands of miles with proper maintenance... some just last better with piss poor maintenance.
In my opinion, a warranty on an engine is a red herring argument. In my experience, an engine will fail darn near at the start or last way outside of warranty. So getting a 6 month junkyard warranty engine will be good enough to find out if the engine is good or not.
For functional, I wouldn't go carb even if I got the engine for free... ever. My home elevation is 3500'(outside Georgetown, CA). My work elevation is sea level(Sacramento). My wheeling elevation is 6000'+(Rubicon, Gold Lake, Fordyce). EFI allows for just drive and go. It also allows for 'consistent' adjustments.