Advice on buying junkyard engines?

The salvage yard I have the most experience with, I have been dealing with 47 years. I know the owner well who retired last year, his daughter took over. He is/was a straight shooter and I believe his daughter is as well. She ran one of his other yards 30 miles away for over 30 years. I have bought 3 whole cars and numerous parts over the years and I have had only one bad experience that was no fault on him. I bought a replacement engine that was the cheapest and lowest warranty available and that engine puked with less of 1000 miles of my driving. Should have known better, you get what you pay for. It came from a different yard and he had no knowledge of it and couldn’t advise me one way or the other. He said it was a roll of the dice. I rolled and lost. In no way did that discount all the really good experiences I have had in his 2 yards.

Hell sometimes I just go there for a good Saturday morning walk and coffee.