Sunwest Automotive Engine

This is my second engine that Sunwest has built. Fantastic shop, they worked with me through an unrebuildable phase 1 EJ22 short block. We came up with the plan to put my rebuilt phase 1 heads on a rebuilt EJ25. The heads paired nicely with the baja flat tops. 1000 miles later, it has broken in nicely with nice high compression across all 4 cylinders. The staff was available at all hours and the technicians willing to offer advice. They helped give the ol' Legacy a new life.

Haven't finished rebuilding my 2006 subaru outback engine yet because the shortblock I got from Sunwest was missing head alignment dowel pins! Who knows what else they forgot! 😬 These pins aren't really available anywhere local in stock, can't remove them from my old engine, so I have to wait for shipping, delay the work, mechanic can't get to the engine until later, it's a real pain. And who knows what else they could have messed up with this shortblock… fingers crossed. Edit: gave them a call. They assured me that it's the last step and that they'll answer and make right any issue we find, on or off hours. Wish I'd called them on the Saturday that this happened, but it's good to know they'll help customers on their off hours.

Adding to my previous review because I feel the need to let people know what a great business this place is. I had some issues with my initial engine but was no fault of Sunwest and unfortunately I had a bad luck situation and broke my crankshaft. Long story shorty Sunwest went above and beyond to make sure that I was taken care of. You can tell that the owner - Roy, takes pride in what he does and so does everyone I talked to working there. I recently picked up a WRX and I am definitely going to Sunwest for an engine if the need arises. 100% these guys are awesome! I ordered a 5vzfe 3.4 long block from sunwest for my 1998 Tacoma. The communication from the start was great and customer service is exceptional with this company. Very easy to work with. Price is very good for the thorough job they did. They sent me progress pictures and a video of my remanned engine on the test stand. I had a local mechanic do the install and he also mentioned how great their work and instructions were. I am driving my pickup with its new engine now and it runs phenomenally. It’s still in break in period and I will update this review as time goes on and I have more miles on it. Rob and his team are exceptional and I highly recommend anyone looking for a remanned engine option to check these guys out!

Got a long block from these people and spent thousands of dollars, countless hours of labor on a rebuilt motor, for them to deny the warranty, on an engine that failed after 3months at 1800 miles. Build your own motor you'll be better off. I put so much in and now I'm out about 7k in total. Don't do it. In response to your comment below. You know I do appreciate the offer to help for whole sale cost. But its hard to want to make a decision like that when... I already bought an engine, I followed a boat load of instruction to the T, which was fun, but took countless hours of work, blood, sweat and tears. I followed costly Pre-lube instructions, installed the engine, had a mechanic inspect all of the work(towing car to a shop), used proper fuel, I let the car fully warm up before moving it, ever. I always drove it as the break in directions stated, which took constant awareness while driving over months of time and at different mile break in steps. I drove with a scanner and tracked data and engine acceleration to meet your guidelines. So from my consumer perspective, I followed what was asked of me, and still, now need to pay more, for potentially the same outcome? An outcome that ends up with a melted heat tab, even though my cars temperature gage, never overheated once. This leading to denial of warrenty, even though, at the time of failure the engine was not over heating and at no point did. There was no warning signs, no sounds or weird vibrations. She drove great until the moment of failure. At this point I consider myself at a loss and it sucks. It really blows to be the person who finally can do something cool like this after being broke most of my life to having my funds vanish with no reward, on what was going to be my daily driver. Now, I've had to finance a new Toyota which works out. But the reason I write this, is so others can avoid putting their all into something and being so proud, to feeling the way I feel now.

Brought my EJ253 block to them to have a single thread repair. They went ahead and repaired all six threads without authorization. Then complained to me about the low price they quoted for all 6. I picked up the block and drove home a few blocks. Upon inspection still in the truck bed 3 of the 6 repaired threads were full of swarf (metal cuttings). So they sent in the thread repair sleeve without even cleaning out the holes. Then I noticed the damage that they did to the block head mating surface. The owner suggested that I did that when I picked up the block and strapped it down under a folded tarp with a single pull strap. The techs were baffled how it happened?? Well it happened when they dropped a tool on the surface or clamped the jig plate with material between mating surfaces. The previous owner was there and suggested that I hammer it out and use RTV when reassembling. A true sign of quality. The new owner (18 months) said they see it all the time when people use nylon web straps and damage their blocks! He has been at it so long it probably happens daily! My suggestion is to avoid this shop. The new owner is non technical and will not own up to the mistakes his workers make. Instead they will blame it on you.