New 98 eclipse gst engine option questions

[Luisernesto202020]

Just picked up a 98 gst with a blown headgasket, i got it all torn apart and now im faced with a decision should i rebuild this 7 bolt, buy a 1990 6bolt nonturbo longblock for $750 from a nearby shop with 90day warranty or buy a 1990 6bolt turbo longblock for $500 with a blown headgasket and 14b included?

I just want a nice daily driver with some power and some sense of reliabilty. I know back in the day rebuilding 7bolts was a big no no due to crankwalk but im thinking now maybe some people have had more success going this route since it has been a few years, if not then is it reasonable to go with a 6bolt block 7 bolt head and if so which 6bolt sounds like a better option from the 2 mentioned above the blown turbo 6bolt or the nonturbo 6bolt?
I have read many of the threads on here so im familiar with search, just seems like everything is really cluttered from last time i was on here 8yrs ago

 

[dsmcrzy]

That's only the 95-96 7 bolts that suffered from crank walk. The 97-99 7 bolts have a revised thrust bearing. You will find plenty of people on here building 7 bolts with good results. Yes the popular thing is to do the 6 bolt swap but since you already have the revised block why spend more money?

 

[Alberto peña]

Check it out make sure it's really only a bad headgasket & rebuild it if that's the case

 

[jdub14]

If it was a blown head gasket only you could remove the head and check both the head and block for flatness within spec usually the head warps in over heat situation it that is the case just mill the head to within spec add new head gasket composite type with arp head bolts and call it a day if you hear noise comming from the block or poor compression test numbers then replbuild the block