[hooaugh]

Hey all,
I have a couple of questions about my 1970 Chevelle and the dreaded California smog laws. I know if your car is older than '73 it is smog exempt, but what does that really mean.
#1- If I put a fuel injected 350 lt1 and 4l60E tranny from a '95 b-body in my car, do I legally

have to get my car smogged because of the year of the engine and tranny?
#2- My 1970 shouldn't have cats right?

 

[Chvelle]

Speaking of Ca. inspections, How do all those Dodge/Chrysler minivans and K cars pass the sniffer? Are they exported to the surrounding states when they fail?
just curious Are they still crushing older cars also?

Another reason to stay away



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Richard Dorrough
Tulsa, Ok
'68 Chevelle (CHVLLE)
'70 Nomad
ACES # 789

 

[Philip]

Smog exempt mean you don't have to go get tested. If you drove past a sniffer and were way off the scale they might want to talk with you about it, but I don't think they could do much.
#1 how would they know if you did this engine swap? And chances are it would be burning pretty clean anyway.
#2 no cats on Chevelles till around 74 or 75.

The Chrysler K's and mini vans would make great artifical reefs.

 

[snow427]

That reef thing was pretty funny 64. Another thing about CA smog if you get stopped at one of the road side smog checks you still have to have all the orignal smog equipment or they'll fine you.

 

[Steve R]

I have heard about the checkpoints but have never seen one. Are they located in areas which failed to meet the clean air standards? Hopefully the rest of the country will adopt the same standards, in terms of a more or a less hands off aproach for older cars.

Steve R.

 

[Brian R]

You also have to think about your car's future. If you keep it, it'll be exempt from testing. But if you decide to sell it, you will have to get it tested even though its pre '73.

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Brian R
'69 Malibu Coupe

 

[L6571SS]

What about newer vehicles. My lil' p/u has all the emissions stuff but wasn't the Cali emissions package. Whats the difference?

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JT
71 SS Vortec 355
www.angelfire.com/co/KellyMotorsports

 

[topdownss]

A clarification for some of the above comments. If the vehicle is pre '73, you do not have to get it smog checked, even if you sell it. The car will never have to visit a smog inspection station. Roadside inspections may be another matter...anyone have more details about this??

 

[mike reeh]

I beg to differ...

I live in smog check hell (that would be California) and if your car is built IN 1973 or before you are completely exempt from smog laws. That includes not getting checked if you sell the vehicle.

hooaugh that means you can do anything to the motor/drivetrain and like someone else said it will probably run cleaner than when that car was brand new

if you drive past a sniffer (there was one in my town, but i just heard about it never actually saw it) I would just rev the motor and keep on driving.. like I said you are exempt from smog, if they put you on the sniffer they will have nothing to base your results on anyway..

they can tell from the VIN and other info if your car was originally sold in california.. if it wasnt, you probably wont have a smog pump, and maybe some other stuff.. the smog check station will know this and you will not be penalized, they will adjust accordingly..

also if you can have your 74+ car registered in a county/rural area there is a good chance that they will not be required to dyno it during the smog check which means it passes easier and the smog check is usually cheaper.. (thats how it is in the town that I live, but 5 minutes away in the city you have to have it dyno'd)




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Mike Reeh
Gold #34
San Diego, CA

 

[JJ'65]

Calif DMV website www.dmv.ca.gov should have the latest word on smog requirements.

 

[DaveK]

I bought my car out of state in Sept 99, brought it in and registered it here in So Cal and they didn't require it to be checked. In fact they didn't even look under the hood. Hope it never changes.

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Dave Knapp
TC #388
ACES # 3474
'70 SS 396

 

[lev]

I was actually going to Cali this summer, and I was gonna bring my Bu. What are these roadside check stations? I plan on having a mean motor by then, will they give me any trouble? The car is registered in Massachusetts, where is blessedly exempt from smog laws (and a bunch of other laws too).

 

[snow427]

In CA or at least in the Inland Empire they can stop you at the roadside test station. I know a guy who got stopped. His car was exempt but they wrote him a ticket for not having a PCV valve. So if you get stopped at the roadside check station you have to have all the origanal smog equipment or they can ticket you.

 

[DaleP]

I bought my Monte in Washington and registered it Calif. I took it to the Auto Club. This nice lady assured my there would be no problem. She said she had never seen anyone ever have a problem registering an out of state car in her entire career.

She looked around under the hood. The smog pump was missing, the tubes in the exhaust manifold were either pinched off or plugged with plugs and the lines to the charcoal canister just dangled. "Everything looks fine!"...there could have been a kangaroo under the hood and she would have not known the difference.

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Dale P.
Team Chevelle Member# 423
65 El Camino
72 Monte Carlo
"..you did you take the washer off, right?"

 

[shakerus]

hooaugh,
If you're military, as your name would lead me to believe, you can keep your car registered in your "home" state, and not have to get your car smogged.

 

[67 Wagon]

Here's what I know about it.

Pre-74's do not need to be tested as part of the bi-annual smog test. But they are still required to have all the factory smog equipment. That is why you can still get a ticket if you get stopped at a check point.

The year cut off starts to move in 2004 to vehicles that are 30 years old - 1974 vehicles will be exempt from the bi-annual test. (2005 - 1975 vehicles etc.)

The engine swap in question is legal because a newer engine is going into an earlier vehicle but an earlier engine can't go into a late-model vehicle.

Upon sale or transfer a smog check does not have to be passed on pre-74 vehicles.

Hopefully one of these days they will do away with the open hood inspection and just put it on the tailpipe so if it passes it passes.

Of course any of this could change at any time.

 

[Joe Harrison]

I am from So Cal and personaly know of a guy getting a fix it ticket for a blown big block in a 69 Camaro. His kid smoked the meats big time in a buddies shop parking lot, private property and not rented, the guy that owns the shop owns the parking lot and told him it was ok to smoke um up. A cop accross the street (not seen at the time, if he was I know the kid and he would not have lit them up like he did). After making a very impressive 30 foot black rubber railroad track and tons of blue smoke, he parked the car. We all high fived and checked out the awsome big block, at this time we noticed officer friedly accross the street. It became a waiting game, after about 15 min, the guy gets in the camaro and pulls into the street, he went about ten feet and was stopped. He was ticked for a side marker light not working and not having the proper emmisions equipment on the car. After a long hassle, the blower was removed and a leagal top end put on it, the ticket was signed off and the blower put back on. All this happend about 9 months ago. I loned some of the parts to make it legal, i think we had five people contribute parts (loan) to make this car a "legal smog exempt" car. Don't be fooled they can still get you if they really want to. The cop that signed the ticket said the issueing officer must have been really ticked off about something to write this up and though there had to more to the story before the kid entered the parking lot to begin with. Funny thing is he had been there all day, he works at the shop part time to feed his car habit!!!

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Gold Member #164
sites.netscape.net/1969ss/homepage
San Diego CA.