Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

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Crawdad
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Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by Crawdad »

Hey all,
I'm moving to CA midway through building a 2276. To the Bay Area. The motor is going in a 1976 Beetle, so it is not smog exempt (the cutoff is 1975). Is there an "original equipment" visual inspection as well as a sniff test? If there is only a sniff test, can you pass it by getting the heads super hot, retarding the timing, and tuning it lean? I have a Web 86A cam, Los Panchitos heads (40x35.5). 44IDFs, later to be Megasquirt.

I'm keeping a stock motor on hand, but because of the Subaru 5-speed transmission I'm putting in, swapping the motor out every two years for the test would be a major hassle (requires swapping the custom flywheel as well).

Any advice would be welcome.
Matt
Bruce2
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Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by Bruce2 »

You won't get past the visual.
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Crawdad
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Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by Crawdad »

Thanks, Bruce. Does anyone know if the visual test has to conform to the car's specific year / VIN number? This was originally a fuel-injected car. I can put a stock Solex-carbed motor in it, but there's no way I'm tracking down all the original FI stuff. Oy vey.
Bruce2
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Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by Bruce2 »

Not only is the visual specific to your year, you have to have all of the Cali specific parts. That means a CAT on top of all the original L-Jetronic Beetle parts.
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Kafer_Mike
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Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by Kafer_Mike »

Swap out with a pre-'75 pan and retitle it? :?:
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Crawdad
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Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by Crawdad »

Oh man. I am so F**ked. I've got many, many hours in the pan. I may have to keep it registered in VA and hope the CA cops don't get too bent out of shape about it having out-of-state plates. I could see that working, right up until I get pulled over for drifting through city streets.

I wonder how sophisticated the "VIN inspection" people at DMV are about looking for signs of cutting and welding in the area of the VIN number. If you get caught, maybe they just impound the car? Nightmare.
H2OSB

Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by H2OSB »

Not to be flippant, but swapping the engine out every two years in a Beetle is easier than pretty much any other car.

Truth of the matter for we Californians is, if you like to play with engines in cars, it better be '75 or older or you will never have it street legal. This is not a car enthusiasts friendly state.

H2OSB
Last edited by H2OSB on Wed Jul 31, 2019 2:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
H2OSB

Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by H2OSB »

Crawdad wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 12:22 pmI wonder how sophisticated the "VIN inspection" people at DMV are about looking for signs of cutting and welding in the area of the VIN number. If you get caught, maybe they just impound the car? Nightmare.
Impound the car, fine you, and jail you. Don't do it, no matter how easy it seems it would be.

H2OSB
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Crawdad
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Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by Crawdad »

I don't mind swapping in a stock carbureted engine every two years, but locating all the original fuel injection stuff, and getting it to actually work well enough to pass smog, would be a big undertaking. From what I've been able to locate in classified ads, that stuff is crumbling like a mummy.

Question: Were ALL 1976 Beetles fuel injected? If not, is an inspector going to know that this one originally was? I have to think there must be formerly FI cars in CA that are now carbureted?
H2OSB

Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by H2OSB »

I believe they were, but I'm certainly no expert. Are we talking sedan or vert?

I guarantee an inspector will know that it should have fuel injection and not carbs, and any car with carbs will fail the visual, like Bruce said.

I feel like I'm being a downer, but I'm not intending to. It's just the reality we've had to deal with in California as a car enthusiast.

H2OSB
Bruce2
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Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by Bruce2 »

Crawdad wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 12:22 pmI wonder how sophisticated the "VIN inspection" people at DMV are about looking for signs of cutting and welding in the area of the VIN number. If you get caught, maybe they just impound the car? Nightmare.
I have a friend in Cali who's car had a pan swap in the early 70s in Germany. He bought the car in the US in the late 80s, and when he got around to properly registering it in CA, the CHP impounded the car simply because of the pan swap. They told him that unless he could prove the pan wasn't stolen, he'd never get the car back. The CHP is the modern day gestapo when it comes to VINs, so don't even think about cutting around the VIN.
Also, forget all the talk about trying to work with a stock carburated engine. In the olden days, you could slide the guy a few bennys and he'd overlook things. After they put a few guys in jail, word got around and no one would do that anymore.

You have two options.
1. Sell the car and get an early car.
2. Get a complete working 76 FI engine to swap in every 2 years.
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Kafer_Mike
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Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by Kafer_Mike »

...or find a donor <'75 Bug or pan w/ a clean title. :roll:
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Clatter
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Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by Clatter »

Heyman,
I live in the Bay Area - Santa Cruz.
Hit me up when you get here.

1St thing to try is to get someone where you live now to allow you to register your car at their address.
Or at home with mom or something..

They won’t hassle you for having out-of-state tags if they are current.

If that’s not an option, there are others.
I can introduce you to the right smog guy,
But he costs.

Better to talk to your mom ;-)
Speedier than a Fasting Bullet!

Beginners' how-to Type 4 build thread ---> http://shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=145853
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Crawdad
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Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by Crawdad »

Thanks for all the replies. Clatter, I was planning to look you up already. I want to check out that squareback.

Plan A: Keep the registration in VA. I think I would keep my VA my driver's license too, because when I get pulled over, if my DL doesn't match the car's registration, I think a cop who's in a bad mood might start asking hard questions and send me down some bureaucratic rabbit hole.

Plan B: On their website, the CA DMV says it requires a "VIN inspection" only if you are bringing a car into CA from another state. How about this: buy a beater pre-76 CA Beetle and just swap the plates? Or also swap the VIN tag that is in the corner of the windshield, and the sticker in the door jamb? When I get pulled over, is a cop really going to make me remove the non-reclining seat, crawl past the door bars, through the roll cage, to check the VIN on the frame tunnel? The only hitch I can see is if the car got stolen. Then I'd be in bureaucratic limbo, with no recourse.
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Clatter
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Re: Can a big motor pass CA smog test?

Post by Clatter »

Ya, you could swap out the pan numbers easily enough, too.
I had to swap the tunnel on my car, and decided to move the numbers from one pan to the other.
That way it stayed "matching numbers"..

Was wondering if it was a good idea or not; would anyone ever x-ray the metal to reveal my welds?

In the end, it made more sense to move the pan numbers to the new pan,
Because having the right numbers where they are supposed to be is less likely to cause issues.
Having a non-matching pan number could come and possibly bite me in the a$$ one day?



My bus always had the sticker missing from the door jamb.
What are they ever gonna do if someone paints their car jambs and all?


The little tag on the dashboard is held on with two rivets.
Had to drill/move that plate when I got a new dash on my bus to replace the hacked one.
Surely committed some heinous federal crime doing that no doubt..


FWIW,
If you decide to swap to an earlier set of numbers,
The only way it could cause any issues is if they inspect the thing for smog equipment somehow one day.
If I had a '76, I'd look for a '75 or '74 to get the numbers from; that way, if they looked at the car, the 'smog' equipment would be hopefully similar enough.
Things like the vent tube from the tank filler neck, or the place where the charcoal can mounts to the car..
If you had the smog brackets, or tank details right, it could never raise an eyebrow.

Converting my '76 Bus to an earlier one would mean the fuel filler had different details.
'76 was the first year for this particular kind of fuel filler.
If I was swapping numbers, I'd do the filler surgery as well; just for good measure.

They do have a lot of available detailed documentation at every smog station about what is, and isn't correct, for every model year car.

Was going to convert my '76 bus to a '75 to avoid having to pull my Raby cam,
But registered the thing at my in-laws address instead. ;-)
Speedier than a Fasting Bullet!

Beginners' how-to Type 4 build thread ---> http://shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=145853
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