engine swapping in california (20v)

[justkitteh]

i live in california, and up untill now ive only driven (beaten the hell out of) other peoples cars as i wasnt really sure what i wanted... (old school minis are some fun you know) anyway... since this is the case, ive never had so smog a car, and really have no idea what thats all about, so, basicly ive seen lots of threads about how you cant to a 20v swap, or any jdm swap for that matter in california because of a visual inspection... now... as far as i know japan has much tighter emision laws then the US... so why wouldnt a japanese engine pass inspection? ive heard alot of things like retarding timing and adding alcohal or ascetone to your gas stuff, and i was wondering what effect they have... and again, why these motors wont pass inspection

im most interested in the jspec 3rd gen gte and the black top 20v... but i think information on all engines/swaps/emisions/etc could be helpful to alot more then just me...

thanks for all your help, im just trying to fill in the holes in my understanding

[Mojomonkey]

I dont know what your reading but you can swap ANY newer motor into your car, JDM or not as long as it has the correct california ECU and emissions requirements. I had a 90 CRX Si, and i swapped a JDM B16A2 into my car and pulled the ECU and wireing harness off the Junked Integra GSR my friend had. I passed Smog, LEGALY, but it really only matters if you dont know someone who could smog your JDM with no modifications to the emissions requirements for you.

[TheAmazingDave]

The engine you swap in has to be an engine that was available for that model the same year of production or newer. So a Celica engine will not ever be legal in an MR2.

A 20v 4A-GE was not ever offered in a Toyota in the U.S. AFAIK, and certainly not in any California models, thus a 20v 4A-GE will not ever be legal for street use in Cali, regardless of how clean it burns.

[Mojomonkey]

Thats when its time to go to a person who will smog anything for a fee, good luck man

[justkitteh]

so in california they will actually just look at the engine... where as other places they wouldnt? and they have a list or some such of illegal engines?

[TheAmazingDave]

They have lists and pictures of the smog equipment and where it should be for every vehicle, I have seen it in person when they couldn't find the timing pointer when I had a Corolla 4A-GE in my car originaly. They brought up a picture of where my timing pointer should be and wanted to fail me because it wasn't there, even though it was properly timed using the factory marks for a FWD Corolla 4A-GE.

When they pop the lid and see a 20 vavle head they're going to laugh you out of the shop.

[Mojomonkey]

No, you just have to know the right people to get your swap smogged. Thats true, they will throw you out if you have something that was never put into a USDM car UNLESS you know the right people.

[justkitteh]

what about a jspec gte in a mk2? wouldnt that look the same?... at least, if it was in a mk2 turbo... it would probably fail in a mk2 n/a?

[Mojomonkey]

Like i say, if you know the right people, it doesnt matter WHAT you stick in your car, as long as its clean and done right and you have spare cash, you could have it done. Just talk to some people at the smog station, someone is bound to know someone who will do it.

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by Mojomonkey

Like i say, if you know the right people, it doesnt matter WHAT you stick in your car, as long as its clean and done right and you have spare cash, you could have it done. Just talk to some people at the smog station, someone is bound to know someone who will do it.

man we get the point that u get shit done illegelly and some people do there shit legit and legal

[Mojomonkey]

Acutally, i have a JDM 4ageze Twin Charged built with a Greddy Turbo kit that is LEGIT for smog man. Im just SAYING if you want somethin you cant normally do, get it done under the radar.

[Deshi]

so youre asking why your car is getting crappy gas mileage and poor acceleration? and your headlights keep popping up?


Who did the work for the twin charge?

[Mojomonkey]

No, i have two, an 1988 Supercharger (twin Charged) and an 1987, the 87 is actin all funky, im not having any problems with the 88. My mechanic in San Jose helped me fabricate all the parts i needed to build the Twincharger system. It cost me about 3k, but in my opinion it was worth every penny.

[justkitteh]

wait wait... i know that cars that are older then x years dont need to be smogged... does anyone know that that age is? because i think its 20 years...

thats why people can put bit 572s in mustangs and stuff

[Mojomonkey]

there is no AGE a car has to be to be smog exempt. I have a 1963 VW bug i have been working on, the cut off was anything made AFTER 1974. After 74 everything (or almost everything) was fitted with a CAT and emission electronics, so they are required to be smogged

[justkitteh]

actually in callifornia it used to be 30 years, last year it changed to 1975, as you said

tho apperently they dont actually look under the hood so idunno (according to 7 people whove gotten smogged localy

[Mojomonkey]

yeah, i heard about that 30yr old thing. They changed it because of "new" clean air standards

[justkitteh]

ya... but did they eliminate the visual inspections? maybe just in "advanced" zones (im in one)

edit: that makes less sence then i thought... but still

[Mojomonkey]

no, they perform visual inspections on ANYTHING that looks like it could be modded. They will be able to tell once its on the dyno anyways, I failed with my MR2 once because i had the twin charger active (i had to bring it to my friend), it passed with flying colors

[Nik]

Originally Posted by Mojomonkey

no, they perform visual inspections on ANYTHING that looks like it could be modded. They will be able to tell once its on the dyno anyways, I failed with my MR2 once because i had the twin charger active (i had to bring it to my friend), it passed with flying colors

Not really. They just run it at 15 and 25mph, you're not going to get any kind of power reading from two fixed rpm runs. at such low speeds. The dyno is just to put load on the engine for accurate sniffer numbers.