Wayne, These rules must vary a lot from state to state. In Minnesota, we have a huge Street Rod club (10,000 members) and they have a strong lobby group, and therefore liberal laws concerning cars. Before our emissions testing program was canceled a few years ago, if you installed an older engine (pre 1976) into a vehicle that required emission testing (1976 & newer), then the vehicle no longer required testing. I have never heard of any restrictions here on swaps. There are no checks or emission tests to find any violations. Federal rules may require emissions equipment equivalent to what the vehicle was originally equipped with. Are the rules in the SEMA article below for California? Dave Homstad 56 Dodge D500 -----Original Message----- From: Forward Look Mopar Discussion List [mailto:L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Wayne Graefen Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 6:33 PM To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [FWDLK] SEMA on Engine Swaps The Specialty Equipment Market Association's (SEMA) newsletter "Driving Force" in its May issue has the following to say about engine swapping. Since there are a lot of swaps going on in our vehicles, I thought it would be worthwhile to print their article here. Remember to check your individual state laws as well. Old story: be legal or be sorry. Wayne ***************** TECHNICAL CORNER Engine Swaps Made Easier By Frank Bohanan, SEMA Technical Consultant Hobbyists frequently ask us about the rules governing engine switching in project vehicles. First of all, those engaged in engine switching activities are bound by specific state laws that may vary from state to state. Having said that, there are some general guidelines one may consider. This article will cover the rules for switching the engine in production-type vehicles. Specially constructed vehicles, street rods, kit cars and the like will have different rules which will be discussed at another time. The basic rule of engine switching (as opposed to installing a "replacement" engine) is that the change must do no harm. This means that the engine being installed must theoretically be at least as "clean" as the one taken out. Several requirements may define "clean" for the purposes of engine switching: Model Year: The engine to be installed must be the same age or newer than the one being replaced. Crate engines can be used if they are configured to resemble an engine that was certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and/or the California Air Resources Board. This essentially means that the required emissions parts must be present on the engine. Certification Level: The engine to be installed must come from a vehicle certified to meet the same or more stringent emissions standards than the one replaced. Vehicle Class: An engine from a vehicle class such as a motor home, medium-duty truck or marine application must not be used since these engines were certified to different types of emissions standards, using different tests. System/Equipment: When swapping in a newer engine from a later-model vehicle, all of the relevant emissions control equipment must be transferred as well. This includes the carbon canister, the catalytic converter(s) and even parts of the on-board diagnostic (OBD) system. Some states have exceptions to this requirement, but the general rule is that as much of the donor vehicle's emissions system as possible should be transferred. The vehicle will likely run more efficiently with a full transfer of the system and shouldn't cause any undue heartache. Of course, engine switching can be much more complex than described here, but these are good general rules to follow and should keep engine switchers out of trouble in most cases. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Need an answer fast? Search the 17,000+ pages of the Forward Look Mailing List archives at http://www.forwardlook.net/search.htm -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Need an answer fast? Search the 17,000+ pages of the Forward Look Mailing List archives at http://www.forwardlook.net/search.htm
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