California Legality of 914 engine swap Options

[wiredwrx]

Hello All,

I am looking for people, specifically in California, who have gone through the process of registering, insuring, and smog testing (If it is needed) a 914 with an engine swap.

I recently read about the change to law that says post 1975 cars, no matter how old are not smog exempt, so I plan on getting a pre 1975, or whatever year I need to get, to avoid that. But, what about registering the car. Do I have to see the state ref before I can get the registration. Do I even need to go to the State ref to get signed off on. DO I have to notify the DMV of the engine swap (I have a friend doing an engine swap, and his research has determined that the DMV must be notified of the engine swap)

I am looking for any information people have.

Thanx
Michael

[lapuwali]

I lived in the Midwest for 15 years. The regulations vary wildly from place to place, even within a given state.

For example, when I left St. Louis 10 years ago, the law at the time required a safety AND emissions inspection EVERY YEAR (CA is every other year), and there was no cutoff for old cars (until 1968, when it's only a safety inspection). The safety inspection checks things like brakes, steering, lights, etc. Emissions was a tailpipe only test. I'm told this has since changed, but I've heard conflicting reports about whether it's more lax, or tighter. Meanwhile, my father, in rural Missouri, has no inspection at all, of any kind, at any time.

Under the law that existed 10 years ago, it was actually HARDER to license a 914 in MO than it is now in CA. And CA is not the toughest anymore. AZ still requires smog checks on all cars back to 1968, and it's a visual test, just like CA. It's considerably harder to own a 914 in AZ than in CA.

Meanwhile, in CA, yes, the weather is very nice. No salt on the roads and a culture devoted to it means seeing 30 year old cars is something that happens several times a day, every day. My daily driver was made in 1967, and no one bats an eyelash at it here, or the fact that I drive it every day. There are six significant shops in the SF Bay Area alone that handle Alfa Romeo, a marque that hasn't sold a car in the US since 1994, and rarely sold more than 1000 a year at their best (viz, there are fewer Alfas in the US than 914s...). We do pay for all of this niceness with some regulations that don't exist elsewhere, but more directly with high prices for everything, esp. housing. There are good reasons to live here, and good reasons to live elsewhere.