Registering a Car in California as "Specially Constructed Vehicle"
 

Has anyone had any experience with registering a car as "Specially Constructed Vehicle" in California?

I'm moving to CA soon from OH. I have a 79' Firebird and it's been completely redone. 600 horsepower, all new drive train (beginning with an aluminum-headed 1969 428 block + 0.060). I'm curious if people have opinions on my chances for getting it cleared for no emissions checks. The car still looks like a 1979, maybe except for a cowl-induction hood. The CA law states that the car may be classified from the year of engine (1969) if it resembles stock. Mine does not (holley carb/victor intake/alum heads/internals). Then it says, the year will be assigned as 1960, if no other determination can be made. However, as mentioned, it still looks like a '79 firebird for the most part.

You're Fuct. Welcome to Commiefornia.

If the engine is of the original configuration or something that was available that year on that make and model, then it has to have everything it came with stock unless it is a 50 state legal part.

If it's a "swap", (aka non original configuration that was available that year on that make and model), then it will have to go to the refereee for a BAR label...and has to be an engine the same year or newer than the vehicle, and the vehicle as to have all the equipment that THAT engine had originally.

That is why the late 2nd gen F bodies aren't worth much here, and why nobody builds them here....well that and the fact that we can still get the older cars which are more desirable anyways.

Sorry, you're going to have to register it as a '79 provided it still has the factory VIN. Just because you changed the engine and transmission and put a cowl hood on it doesn't mean you get a pass for emissions testing or get to register it as specially constructed. The law regarding engine swaps is you can ONLY go newer than the chassis itself, not older (so a 1969 block in a 1979 chassis is technically not allowed).

Specially constructed vehicles refers to various chopped and severely modified bodies that may or may not have been cars at one time.

My suggestion would be to find a '75 or older chassis to put everything into since '75 and older is smog exempt here...for now.

I won't suggest switching numbers off that '75 chassis onto your car though. Simply because it's not politically correct to mention things like that :)

start looking
 

All of this has been said, but here is how I understand the "rules" here in SoCal.

1. You can't swap an older engine into a new model year car. If it is smog exempt, no one cares.

2. Maybe if you put a Cat on and it passes smog you can get by. They do not look for engine VIN's at the smog shops, just vehicle VIN's. It also needs the evap cannister, they get a cap check and filler hole check.

I have a 1975, 455 engine in the 67 LeMans.

Might want to start looking for a 1979 Pontiac engine, to put in for the smog test. It's every two years.

Greg

Correct

Incorrect - There are 3 parts to the test: Visual, funtional, and emissions (with the car ont he dyno under load)

1) It will never pass visual
2) It will never pass functional since most of the items being functionally tested won't be on the car
3) It will never pass emissions without all the above on the car

Nobody looking over your shoulder on that one, but officially it's still supposed to have everything it came with - '75 and older are exempt from testing, but still not allowed to remove anything....but everybody does

Not practial, because you would have to swap everything in and out to make it work...and as we all know here in smogland, 2 years comes up fast with this biennial system we have

BTW, I've had a smog license since 1993, so I know a couple things about this.

And let's not forget that they do roadside checkpoints looking for this stuff with a hefty fine to the owner of the vehicle and possibly the last person to have smogged it if caught.

...and the police will have you pop your hood if they suspect something isn't right. A friend of a friend recently almost lost a Pontiac Solstice over having an LS engine in it illegally. The cop knew it shouldn't sound like that and actually knew that it was an LS engine. He happened to be a hot rodder himself, and was ready to seize the car. Seems to me that he talked them out of towing it, but the judge gave him a ridiculously short time frame to get it straightened out. Not nearly enough time to do it from what I remember.

I also know a few guys who are gold shield certified on smog among other things and everything you are saying is 100% correct. Doesn't mean people don't deliberately try and skirt the rules or that there isn't the occasional tech out there who will take a few c-notes to pass a grossly failing car, but it definitely isn't the norm and you should not rely on it. No legitimate shop is going to risk their expensive license, the hefty fines and dyno equipment they had to buy just to help some dude off the street. And if you're driving like an idiot or get a cop having a bad day and he pulls you over and makes you pop your hood, it's a world of hurt and fines if they catch you cheating.

You can theoretically put almost any Pontiac v8 in any car that came with one you want that is smogged here, they won't check for VIN numbers or block stamp codes (and even if they did 99% won't know how to read them anyways). But that emissions sticker on the core support must match everything in the engine 100% or you fail visual. Make it pass visual (easy), make it pass the pressurizer, and make it pass the dyno sniffer. There is a lot of leeway for a Pontiac 400 and 455 and I made my 400 pass with like 1/3 the max allowed NOx, 0.0 HC emissions, and almost no CO2 emissions as well. Very doable, but once you start yanking off things like EGR valves or having a carb\intake with no CARB number on them, you won't pass easily if at all even if you can make it past visual.

Sounds like a good reason to stay in Ohio.
From a fellow Ohioan. :-)
Russ

Not so easy when EVRYTHING is gone. It will have to have an EGR intake, single exhaust with a cat converter, miles of vacuum lines, etc.

Not worth the effort every 2 years

Illegal smogs are harder and harder to get nowadays due to most guys doing it getting busted. And quite frankly, anyone doing illegal smogs in this day and age are utterly idiots. You eventually get caught. What a lot of guys don't think of is that we see 5 gases coming out of the tailpipe, the BAR sees a WHOLE lot more. I've had a BAR rep that I know show me some of the things they see, which is a whole lot more that what we get to see. Exhaust gas temperature and moisture content are a couple that I remember off hand. A car like the one in question would require a "clean piping" which means using another car for the test with the car in question's VIN number entered into the machine. They have computer programs that look for these things, and guess what? There's going to be another car out there that will have all the same readings (the one used for the clean piping), which quite frankly adds up to auto DNA.

And then there's the brainiacs who do "clean plugging" on '96 and newer OBD2 cars that has the smog machine plugging into the vehicle's onboard computer system through the DLC under the dash - guess what? You can get a vehicle's VIN number on your scanner screen by plugging into the car. The state SAYS that they can't get VIN data that way yet, but do you really think they are going to notify us when they do? Do you really believe them when they say they can't yet?

ANd then there's the whole camera issue - there's a camera port on the smog machine because they plan to someday film the techs doing the smogs, but they say they can't do that yet. Do we believe them?

Considering that you have to have a minimum of 2 years in the automotive field, be a top notch diagnostic and driveability tech, be certified in several areas of ASE testing, and somewhere around 150 hours of training in a BAR certified training course just to be eligible to take a test that has less than 50% passing rate in order to get the license, does it make sense to risk it all for a couple hundred bucks?

There are guys doing it, and the guy that I know works almost exclusively undercover going around and watching techs from down the street, on his laptop, etc.

I know a guy that got busted because the BAR parked a motorhome with a camera in it at the parking lot of the shopping center where his smog shop was and filmed him for daysn end.

AND... Hard to believe I'm sure {sarcasm} - they can watch your screen and everything you input into your machine from their laptop while sitting across the street from you while you have an entirely different vehicle sitting on your dyno.

No it's not fantasy stuff. It's what we know to be fact, but what about the stuff they don't tell us about? It is the government after all...

And the last thing any of us want is the surgeon general breathing down our necks...yes, the surgeon general. Smog issues are considered a health hazard here in commiefornia.

You have it ruff. No smog and $30.00 for 2 years registration is the way to go. If it runs you can drive it.

Yeah, but you have to own stock in a sunscreen company to live there...

Sunscreen what's that?

And we don't get stuck with the crappy paint.

You know it's getting bad when even the Chinese engines they sell at HF have special smog equipment that the engines in other states don't have.

Oh I never said it was easy from where he's starting, just that passing visual is easy if you read the diagram and make everything match. They won't take the air cleaner off or verify individual vacuum lines, but it has to be really close. But yeah, starting with what he has is going to require tracking down quite a few parts...

Ohio: 1979 T/A FOR SALE

Its in great shape and has 600 hp! Best offer since I am moving to Kommiefornika and looked at the big salary instead of the fact that I'll have to sell my car. All sympathetic offers considered.

Gym Shorts 1-555-867-5309





















j/k :D

friend in AZ
 

You need one, just register it there.

You need a AZ drivers license. The title is only $4.00 and the insurance is less money. No loop holes, other people have thought of it. Some people try and sell cars from CA in AZ that don't pass smog.

The smart ones will because that is exactly what you are supposed to do. That's one of the bad things about doing smogs in this screwed up cut throat business. You are meant to thoroughly inspect the car and the cut throat rates that these hungry guys out there advertise doesn't give you the time to thoroughly inspect the car.

You are signing an invoice that states that each component and system is intact, correct, and functions correctly. Unless that car looks as if it's never been messed with, I'm going to verify every vacuum hose.

The smog guy is up against undercover cars going through the shop, so unless you know the car, you'd better look it over well.

The worst thing is when one of these late 70s/early 80s vacuum hose nightmare vehicles come in and will obviously fail, you really have to look it over well to document which systems fail. You cant just rubber stamp it with a big F. You have to enter pass, defective, missing, modified, etc in every category like evap, egr, pcv, ais, cat, spark controls, tac, etc.

So, it's obvious that I cannot get away with calling it a '69 after the engine.

How about this -- what happens if I change the entire front clip to a 70-style. Now it looks like a 70. Would it be modified enough then? Do "specially constructed vehicles" still need to go through smog checks? What happens if I made the car a tubular frame car, now the original chassis is gone as well?

The VIN says the car is a 1979.

Nothing you do to the car changes that simple fact.

Put your engine in an older car, or get used to the fact that your car is never going to be a street car in California.

Yep, but look at it on the bright side: You'll be going to the land of rust free Pontiacs galore. Not to mention the land of car culture, swap meets, etc.

Where are you going to be located? (General area).

near Pasadena.

last question -- If I buy another car (pre 1976) and put the current engine in it (obviously not street legal), are there ANY emissions checks or ANY way for them to disallow the car on public roads?

Man. That's tough. I'm so glad I don't live there. Beautiful place. Seriously, that just sounds like another country to a Bama boy. Its a little easier to "unelect" politicians here and they know most of the bubbas and bros would be walking if they tried that here.

Officially, no. But as I said earlier, it is technically illegal per the motor code of California to modify the emissions controls on ANY car from as it was delivered status regardless of age. And if a police officer or CHP wants to make your life hard, they can pull you over and make you pop the hood and send you to a referee station or impound the car. This really only happens if you've done something stupid and gotten pulled over (drinking & driving: $10k fine as well) or the police officer is having a real bad night and wanting to make an example out of you.

I've got a '67, a '72, a '73, and a '75 and all of them have had some work done to them beyond stock and I've never once been asked to smog it or gotten pulled over for it. I only got grief when I brought my '72 into California as it had no emissions tag on the core support or a second VIN stamp and I got sent to CHP to investigate my car. The fact that I retained the '73 EGR setup (albeit non-functioning) and routed all of the vacuum lines properly made the officer give me a break about it and he said he liked it when the DMV people wasted his time. My '77 and '78 required every other year smog and since I keep them mostly stock and in tune, so no hassles there as the margins to pass are quite wide.

I've toured over a large percentage of the US, enjoyed the people and places.....I've got to say, that must be one huge paycheck you're chasing....because it'd take a real lot to make me want to live in California...there are so much nicer places to live that don't come with the government issued "total control" attitude.

If you're going, I'd sell the car and buy something older when you're settled in CA.

Don't forget the service stations charge you $1.00 so you can air your own tires up.

Before my '67 became exempt, I was considering building a clean smog engine that would only be installed for the smog test. Less than a day to drop it in, and the same amount of time to take it out. Not a bad investment for the other 728 days of hot rodding. Never had to because of the rolling exemption - which unfortunately stopped rolling in '76 when the socialists greenies voted it down. The exemption was brought up this year to extend the year of manufacture, and while it actually got quite a few votes, it went down in flames.

I envy my friends that have made the move to other states. Many of my friends that are currently still here have purchased houses in other states, and will be blowing out of CA as soon as they retire.

have a relative register it in Ohio, and have it put in their will. Seems Nevada may be closer, and anything can show up there on the road

Texas welcomes you to retire comfortably and mostly do whatever you please to do with your car and well whatever else :D

Yeah, Texas was on my list of nicer places to be, thats for sure.

actually, Austin was my 2nd choice.

As long as you fit in, yes. I was run out of Texas =(

With all due respect to the CA haters,I have lived here for a long friggin time.Lived in PA and NJ as a kid.lived on the west coast of FLA for awhile.Been all over the world,NZ,Germany Maurishis(spelling) etc and there is no place I would rather live.There are bad but IMO way more good.You can be at the beach and be sking in the local mountains on the same day.Weather over all is second to none.Yes the DMV stuff can be trying.JMHO,Tom

I don't know about state wide regulations, but Washoe and Clark county still require a YEARLY smog for vehicles all the way back to 1967.

Not to mention unless you are in a place like San Diego near a giant military base with military tags on the windshield, running out of state plates with an in-state license or in-state permanent residence is a good way to get some pretty hefty tickets and fines.

Well put Tom
 

Most of the cars that are exempt can get away with a lot. Many of the shows are put on or have police presence and they pretty much leave people alone. There's some pretty wild rides around and people really love the classic cars here. They have open header contests.

You just need to dump the 1979 with the older engine. I don't think you would have much of a problem putting the HO engine in a 65 GTO or 67 Firebird. There's a lot more old cars to pick from out here, the salt does not get to them. I see cars all the time with DART blocks, huge Hemi's or whatever. Chevy 502's are pretty common at a car show.

The car gusatpos will get to a 1979 car with a 1969 engine. I've had a car inspected by the DMV, for VIN, stuff and they didn't ask anything about the engine.

Haul or drive it out here and change what you have to. Ot sell the body and bring the engine. There are still tons of speed shops here. Google Pasadena speed shops and where you currently live, I'll bet there are more around Pasadena. Nice community too. You could trailer it to the 1/8 mile in Irwindale (10 miles from Pasadena), Fontana, Pomona until you decide what you want to do.

Why do ya think the NHRA starts and ends the season here? Mickey Thompson was a local, NHRA Museum is here, Hot Rod Magazine and therefore the Peterson Museum, on and on. It's not like the post war car culture was created in Delaware. I even foud Big Daddy Ed Roth's shop on Slauson Ave in Maywood, not much to see, but it still exists.

Iskedarian, Edelbrock, the foundry's for all that stuff was out here and some still are. I wouldn't bag everything.

Impossible to be happy with the politicos, it's all left, no middle or right. Tax the citizens and give it to the immigrants, and there are plenty.

Route 66 car show is coming up in September. It probably won't be what it was during a booming economy, but still plenty of nice cars. Check out the online pics when they get posted. SEMA is not far away (LV,NV). Here's link to the coming months car shows and the NHRA Twighlight cruise is cancelled because of the fair, so it's not on there.

http://www.socalcarculture.com/events.html

You can always say "to hell with it" and move back.

Greg

If I put the 301 back in the car (still have it), do I have to literally make everything as-stock...even stuff like the air cleaner, plug wires, distributor, mechanical fuel pump and fuel lines?

Yes. Air cleaner is the big one. Plug wires they likely won't care about, distributor only matters so far as initial timing is concerned.

not true

BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS CODE
SECTION 13650-13702

13651. (a) (1) On and after January 1, 2000, every service station
in this state shall provide, during operating hours, and make
available at no cost to customers who purchase motor vehicle fuel,
water, compressed air, and a gauge for measuring air pressure, to the
public for use in servicing any passenger vehicle, as defined in
Section 465 of the Vehicle Code, or any commercial vehicle, as
defined in Section 260 of the Vehicle Code, with an unladen weight of
6,000 pounds or less.

Yes, everything just like it came from the factory unless it is a 50 state legal part engineered for and has a CARB E.O. number for that specific make, model, year, and engine.... and the decal with the E.O. number has to be present. In other words if the part is legal for the car and the decal is gone it's supposed to fail.

What people must remember, and this is where it gets cloudy with "he said/she said" type of conversation with people saying that their car passed with X item not correct, and/or some other thing that isn't quite right about the car -A lot of the info that the car would fail for is up to the technician to enter the visual and most functional results into the smog machine. There are times you may know the person and they overlook some things for example, or maybe the tech really doesn't know the vehicle and enters incorrect info, etc, but techically what I laid out above is the gist of the law.

True about the wires, but the distributor on the other hand falls into the category I laid out...and not only does it matter visually, but if it's more aggressive of a spark advance than stock it could fails for HC and/or NOx emissions.

Let's not forget that not only does the car have to visually and functionally be correct, but ever since the dyno came into play, these systems have to work like stock or they most likely won't get through the emissions portion of the test.

AND, let's keep in mind that on the emissions portion of the test, they have cut points for pass/fail and they show an average for that vehicle....guys like to fudge things to get the tailpipe readings lower than necessary to pass so that they can have higher scores through the BAR, and by doing that they cause the averages to go down and therefore the cut points which are constantly being adjusted accordingly.

Yes, unfortunately not true. By law I have to check and adjust tire pressures at no cost for every car that rolls into the shop.

Pretty much on average it costs me $100 per hour per guy for my employees/overhead, and I'm forced to pay them to air up your tires for free. Add that up for the month...

ls3
 

Just drop in one of these GM erod engines, everything will be just fine. Gotta be better than the 301.

http://www.chevroletperformance.com/erod/



Greg

E-rod's are pretty good deals for the CA folk. IMO, if you have the original engine and was in decent running shape, and have the room for storage, I'd personally think it's worth the time to swap it every two years. You'll need an exhaust system with it though for the catalytic converter. Just be dang sure it passes first time, that can be tough for some one not used to the rules, but ask and pay for a "test" run that doesn't go to the state to see what it smogs at. If it passes make (and pay for) the certified test, if it fails go correct what needs to pass and do it again. If you get a gross polluter designation expect to be tested every year.

If I could make the same $$$ in So. Cal as I make here in Ely I'd move back there. My original build on the Skylark was going to be emission friendly and go through the referee stuff, and I would make the changes needed to get back to that plan if I moved back there.

Maybe the service stations don't know the law. Ignorance of the law allows them to charge $1.00 for air. I was just there and the machine had a coin operated $1.00 for air. The service station was right across the street from one of those photo enforced trafffic lights. I hear the ticket for running that light is like $400.

I agree with InjunTom and b-man....I've been a licensed smog tech in CA since 1981, and the laws are tough. A '79 needs to be tested initially on registration to this state, and thereafter every two years. Not likely to change any time soon. Return your car to stock and sell it and use the proceedes and put your drivetrain in an older car.

Curious, what's your EA number? I bet there's at least 2 zeros at the beginning. :D

Actually there's a new law here ragarding shops. Gas stations are a different deal than us anyways