Yeah I used to think that but remember, he's a teenager who is likely tight on money. It's very easy to spend $8-10K building a rig before you know it when you could have just bought one for $4-6K that was ready to go. Also, an engine swap or major engine tweaking isn't stuff for a first-timer to really do. There's plenty besides the engine to tweak and upgrade that will still make it your own.
