California emissions question.

[Jmac05]

I know the California emissions standard is at 1973. Meaning if your vehicle is older than that, you don't need a smog check. What if I have a 327 from a '67 that I put in a '78? DO I still have to get it smogged? Conversely, if I get a brand new crate engine, and drop it into a '67, do I get it smogged? Too many tree hugging liberal crybabies in Cal.

[yellowgmc]

from what i know you can only put either the same model year or newer engine in your 78 and be smog legal. as for the crate engine, no idea. sorry.

[busterwivell]

Actually, 73s are exempt too. the new crate motor in you 67 is exempt, but not sure putting the old 327 in the 78. If it runs clean, I doubt anyone at the emmissions center would even check to see what engine you had in there, as long as you had all the right emmissions equipment.

[69sixpackbee]

You cannot replace an engine with another in a smog vehicle unles it is the exact same kind. For example, you cannot yank a 6-banger out for a v-8 if the original came with a six. You can't, legally, replace a 2 barrel with a 4 either. It has to pass a visual inspection FIRST and THEN it goes on the dyno with a sniffer in the tailpipe. If it dosent pas the visual, guess what?? Oh, you CAN do all of these things but be prepared to put them all back in every other year come smog check time. It's a pain in the ass and that is why ALL of my vehicles are older than 1973!!!

[Pops]

I was told by that the state of Calif. has reloaded the info on smog for the 1967 thru 1973 year back into the computer.

Pops

[VDOG]

Originally posted by 69 1/2 Six Pack Bee [/i]
[B]You cannot replace an engine with another in a smog vehicle unles it is the exact same kind.

Well thats not all true. If the six cyl car for that year also offered a V8, then you could install the bigger engine.

[69sixpackbee]

Classification
Don't mix engine and vehicle classifications which will degrade the emissions certification standards. For example, a heavy-duty engine cannot be installed in a light-duty exhaust-controlled chassis even if they have the same displacement. Non-emissions controlled power plants such as industrial or off-road-use-only engines may not be placed in any exhaust-controlled vehicle.

Excerpt taken straight from the "smogcheck" site. They will and they DO take in consideration an eight cylinder engine as a "heavy duty" one when the said vehicle came originally with a six...your registration AND the pink slip shows how many cylinders it had when it was new. When they punch in the VIN is also comes back to corroborate the details.
So read it as you want..you CANNOT swap out a six and put in a 502!! I know first hand because I was once a certified BAR-50 mechanic I knew all the (most of them, anyway) ways to try to get around it and you can't get past the book. Remember, I said when I was a BAR-50 mechanic...it is now BAR-97..alot has changed!!

[DeepPurple]

Question 1:
Re: '67 Engine in a '78.

Technically you have to replace any engine from a smog-compliant vehicle with an engine from the same or later year. (also that the engine is supposed to have been in a similar vehicle) Sadly that's the same in most any area the EPA has jurisdiction.
I said technically you'll notice.
In reality if you're replacing an engine with another one and it runs clean enough to pass, most inspectors just don't care. The ones that do you need to avoid as either they're on a power trip or they're there to make the world a cleaner place at your expense.
So if you can get the 327 to run clean enough the inspector will probably have no idea. (Plus you have to realise that 99% of people don't know one SBC from another)
Oh and another note, you have to have all smog control equipment that was originally on that particular vehicle. Meaning charcoal canister, non-vented tank, closed air cleaner, and anything else applicaple. That is unless California has stopped doing their underhood checks.

Question 2:
Re: Later engine in a '67

Sure you can. CARB and their inspector lackeys don't care what year the engine is, as long as it passes snuff for that year vehicle.
On top of that, since your vehicle is pre-smog, you could put a Model-T engine in it and the authorities could do nothing but glare at you. Despite as much as the tree-huggers want it I don't think CARB has the ability to go after pre-71 vehicles as '71 was the first year of mandate for smog control.

HTH

[Michael A. K. G]

Originally posted by Jmac05
Too many tree hugging liberal crybabies in Cal.

It's really strange hearing that from someone from Corona. Western Riverside and San Bernardino counties were the WORST places in the state for air quality 20 years ago. That it isn't so anymore means that all these emissions rules have actually done something.

I've been in Cucamonga on a bright sunny day and not been able to see the mountains only a few miles away due to the icky brown haze. That, unfortunately, was typical in 1982.

I'm sure you're capable of looking up the BAR regulations just as easily as we are, but you are only allowed to put in a newer or same-year engine AND you have to pass the original emissions requirements.

The EPA forbids NATIONALLY the disabling of any emissions control device the manufacturer was required to install. And emissions started in 1967, not 1973. Inspections apply to 1974 and later vehicles starting Jan. 1.

[69sixpackbee]

Western Riverside and San Bernardino counties were the WORST places in the state for air quality 20 years ago.

More than likely it has taken twenty years for it all to blow into the rest of the world and disperse.
It will NEVER go away..where is it going to go?
I lived in Rancho too and the reason I left there was not because of the air it is because I had to share what little there was to breathe will a WHOLE BUNCH OF A***OLES! Too many people in too confined of an area! I will be glad when I can say goodbye to California for good! I have been here all of my life and it is nothing like it used to be... Oh yeah BTW, good 'ol Gay DayvASS has given the green light to DOUBLING the licensing fees in this liberal state. We pay THE HIGHEST PER-CAPITA licensing fees of ANY state and now they want to double them!!! How 'bout doing away with some of the free-aid leach feeding programs and frivalous law suits and start kicking some of back into a suffering educational system or housing aid programs for those folks who live here and want to get into one of those rediculously overpriced homes that are 5-6 feet apart from their neighbors??
Sorry for the rant...

[Jmac05]

69 1/2 Six Pack Bee---
You are correct. Have you ever been to Texas? Before you secide on a new home, check it out. I lived there, and if it weren't for my family, I'd move back as fast as I could get my moving truck packed...

[69sixpackbee]

That is where I am heading!! Somewhere aroud SA My in-laws live in Sabinal (off I-90 between Hondo and Uvalde) and that is where my wife was born and raised. I would like to move close to the Concan area..anywhere near the river!!
As soon as her kids get a little older...Adios California..enough is enough!!
I lived breifly in Baltimore, MD (actually Harford county-Belcamp)and I loved it there too!