Steve Witt wrote:
>
>
>
>
> I'm almost positive that the laws in California are as stated by Darrell
> Leach. I believe the purpose is to prevent circumventing the smog
> policies here, which are pretty strict. One could get older blocks with
> an "old" serial number and build up an "old" engine to completely get out
> of smog testing altogether. I've got a few friends that have imported
> "gray market" cars (not exactly the same thing) and gone through a pretty
> painful smog certification process. On the other hand I brought in two
> "49 state" cars when I moved here in '86 and prepared myself for a major
> battle with the smog testers when I first got them licensed, but there was
> never any problem. I was worried that they were going to test them to
> California standards when they were built to non-CA standards, but they
> typed the VIN numbers in the machine and tested them to the "as built"
> standards.
>
Ummm, if they typed in the VIN number and tested "as built", that would
seem to contradict your statement about being able to circumvent the
emissions laws with the "old" motor you describe.. Think about it, the
VEHICLE has to meet the emissions standards for the date of manufacture,
regardless of whether you have the original motor, a later or earlier
version of the original, a small block, two squirrels in a wheel....
Whats under the hood makes no difference, provided it has all of the
equipment (cat converter, air pump, vapor recovery etc) that was called
for in the year of the VEHICLES manufacture.
(My '77 has a motor out of a '76, but it's tested as a '77... My buddy
has a 350 tuned port motor from an '80s Z28 with all of the modern
engine controls in a 68 GMC pickup and he's exempt from emissions
testing...))
Thats why they check the *V*IN...
Am I just being dense here?
Thanks!
John
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