I'm in N. Cali. Anyone up here or anyone know of a way to swap in a JDM motor and still have your car street legal? I've heard that it won't pass visual smog? I've also heard other things... and how it's really hard to make a jdm swap legal in Cali. It's so much cheaper for a jdm motor and from the people I've known or met that have jdm motors... theirs aren't street legal.
Can anyone give me some info? I've tried searching the threads, but came up with nuthin. I remember reading on some other forum a while back that it's not possible to make a jdm motor street legal... what do you guys think?

 

Last time I read the regulations, they stated that it was legal, as long as the motor was from the same class vehicle (for example, you can't swap a mack truck engine into a teg) and it retained stock US emissions equipment (to include ECU). Also it has to be in the same emissions teir, meaning As long as it is the same OBD it can be used, and not an older OBD. The way it read was a 92 motor can go into a 95 because they have the same standard, but a 89 motor can't go into a 95 because it is a different emissions teir. For some reason the CARB site hasn't been able to load in a while as well as the NHTSA website. Check them out for more recent additions, and updates.

 

As a matter of fact here you go...

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Replacement Engines
Entire engines can be replacement parts. As with any other replacement part, the engine must be identical to the original. If the replacement block or engine is obtained without emissions equipment, all the equipment from the original engine must be installed on the replacement block.

If the engine is not identical to the original then it is not a replacement part, instead it is considered an engine change.

Engine changes are a modification that must meet certain requirements to be legal (please see "Engine Changes").

Japanese Replacement Engines
Used engines imported from Japan can be used as replacement engines as long as the engine being used has been identified as functionally identical to the original engine. Please refer to the engine importers catalogue to determine if a replacement engine is legal for installation in your vehicle.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is from the CARB's site, here's the link...

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermkt/replace.htm

 

Thanks for the info