The first part of the thread is here, as I was told it belonged in the body section:

http://www.chevelles.com/forum/ultimatebb.php/topic/4/23838.html

I was thinking of lightening the car further, but keeping the front bumper steel and the rear steel. So what do you think about engines? Right now in California, the Governator has now required ALL cars to be smogged, so instead of messing with some heavy, gas guzzling beast of a big block Chevy, I was thinking of maybe a 455 Buick, which is almost as light as a small block Chevy.

But then gas and smog is now an issue, so I think I'm leaning more towards an old Grand National engine, 400 HP and 20 mph isn't hard to achieve I've heard and I've heard the motor with iron heads is 320 pounds or so, from pan to plenum! :eek:

I'm just throwing the idea around, what do you guys think? I'll use the GN tranny too, now I have OD.

Tell us more about those smog laws...

I thought the new smog laws only applied to vehicles newer than '75?

Technically the law still requires all emmissions equipment to be in place on all years of cars. However the practical effect of the law is that only 1976 and newer cars are required to go through biennial inspection. All modified '66 to '75 cars missing emmissions equipment are in technically in violation.

Thomas

How technical is a law that allows you to buy a 66-75 vehicle without having to have smog-check with purchase? Arnold better not go there::: graemlins/angry.gif

Right you are Thomas. I suppose that technically, you could get pulled over and a cop could require you to get tested. I've never heard of this happening, but I guess it's possible. This could prove to be a problem in the future I guess, if they wanted to crack down on older vehicle polution without changing any laws. :(

I did`nt say you had it in the wrong forum, just that you were talking about body panels and you might get better info if it was posted in the body forum, not the performance one since it was more body oriented.

Last I checked you don`t have to smog a 69 chevelle so I would go with whatever motor you want. For a cop to pull you over to check your smog parts would be a waste of time for the cop since they have more important criminals to bust. Plus they would have to know what smog stuff came of what cars and what years and most the cops I know don`t care anyway and would`nt go to the trouble of learning what`s what for smog stuff.

What year car do you have?

Wyatt, right you are - this is a potential future problem. No new law would have to be written, just enforce an existing law. Also, I suppose that it would be one way of coming down on anyone caught "street racing" with a '66 to '75 car.

Remember that in the last year there was a proposed Cali law to require smog checks on cars all the way back to ~ 1960. Seems as though someone noticed that on any good weather weekend some people were actually, gasp, driving their old cars to cruises and shows - can't have that! Yes, they were even going to require testing and compliance by pre-smog era cars. Guess who would have been setting the standards?

Our hobby will likely be the object of major legislative attacks again this year. For those who are not aware, there is a small, vocal, and politically connected, group of car haters here in Cali. Its one of those blue state urban area problems - seems to disproportionately breed car haters. This is one of the reasons why I would back splitting Cali into a north and south state. Almost always it is a bay area politico who gets in a huff about people enjoying their old non-compliant, cars. Most Cali car enthusiasts are in SoCal. So there you have the perfect opening for an ambitious bay area politico: make laws that don't really affect their constituancy. Perfect because most of the heat will come from people who cannot vote that person in or out of office.

When the recent changes to smog inspections (changing the rolling exemption date from 30 years and older to all 1976 and newer now with mandatory inspection) were rolling through the legislative process I called the main sponsor. Her office staff were completely prepared for people like me. They even read down a list that questioned why groups could possibly be against this change in legislation. I tried to explain why it was a bad law, but the staffer was too programmed. They knew it was a bad law as far as I could tell.

Thomas

Yes Bomber, the possibilities are endless. Speeding and get pulled over...and the cop says he smells smoke and burned oil, etc. Then tacks on a trip to the smog check mafia. Guess I shouldn't be giving the goons these ideas. I'm also surprised we haven't heard more from the AQMD about our older vehicles. Heck, if they want to ban barbecues, they'll ban anything. Gotta love those bureaucrats. Even the word bureaucrat is a travesty...it's got "rat" in it.