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]

And in califonia, when you register a car, they check all the proper locations for the proper VINs.

Uh, no. This is from someone who's registered, oh, 15 cars or so in California at, oh, 8 different DMV offices. They look at the one VIN plate on the A pillar. If you have a car that's old enough that the VIN isn't there, they send you to the CHP to have the VIN verified. I've only done the CHP thing once, but the process was that I showed the officer where the VIN was (on the firewall, in this case), showed him how on previous similar cars the CA VIN had been constructed by taking the model number on line 1 of the plate and the serial number on line 2 of the plate (Australian-built '64 Mini). He nodded, saying it made sense, wrote that number down, bullshitted for awhile about the car (gee, I didn't know right hand drive was legal here...), then handed over the signed, stamped paper.

They do not check a 914 for the VINs stamped elsewhere on the body, at least not with any regularity. They *MIGHT*, if they happen to know where they are, but they don't check it normally. If the A-pillar plate matches what you say it says on the paper, you're done.

This really brings up the issue of "what's the law?" v. "what's actually enforced?", which are two entirely different things.