Been a long time lurker. I have a 76 and seriously thinking about doing a six conversion. Specifically looking at a 3.2. Will I still be able to retain all the smog related equipment. Or will fitment issues force me remove them.

I want to make sure I can still pass smog inspection. Thank you for all the great threads and inspiration. 914world rocks!!!!

Unfortunately, you're right on the line and you still have to maintain your SMOG equipment in California.

I know, it's stupid. There's always talk of them 'moving the year', but it's been all talk for a while now.

You need to make friends with a smog tech to guide you through this. The engine swap rules are pretty specific and California is not known for letting things slide. A six cylinder wasn't available in '76 so you may be screwed from the start. Alot of the tech's in san Diego are car nuts so don't be afraid to ask before you put any money into this project.

You will have to have everything the engine came with in the original car and I believe a "check engine" light wired in if it was in the original vehicle. You then would get to talk to a Referee and convince him.

My car is a '75 3.2 conversion. Here in AZ that would have made it a PIA to pass emissions. However, since I have the car insured as a collector car I am not required to go through emissions. Don't suppose CA has any such loophole?

You can install any engine the same year or newer. You must retain all smog equipment and electronics of the new engine. You will then have to take it to a referee station to get it certified.

I've never even seen the smog stuff on a 3.2L so without knowing what all the components are, i have nothing else to say besides: "Good Luck!"

Yep, you will need the catalytic converter and EVERYTHING smog related to the engine that was originally installed on the new engine.

In the "old days" it was easy to get a smog guy to pass you with a few extra bucks or if he was a car buff. Hell, they might even put the tail pipe sniffer in a different car. These days with a rolling dyno, machines that are plugged directly to the DMV and smog inspectors worried about losing the licenses you should stick on the legal route. If for no other reason you won't be able to sell it.

I hate to say it by my suggestion is to get an earlier car 75> that doesn't get a biannual smog test

It would be much easier to pick up an older 914 and do the swap. You will need a 911 to strip apart. You need a good chunk of the harness including the ODB port. The exhaust may be a problem. You will need the cats from the 911 and build a legal exhaust system. It can be done but is a lot of work.

3.2's did not have OBD so no OBD port to worry about. The emission controls are almost all on the engine, part of the DME system. The major obstacle (as I see it) is the cat converter. We did several of these transplants into earlier 911's and it was close to plug and play. Wiring in the DME system was the hardest part on a 911, DME has a separate wiring harness so there are relatively few (from a conversion point of view) connections to the vehicle wiring. It was also necessary to wire in the original tach because it had an upshift light that was part of the emissions system according to the Cal Air Resource Board (CARB). In a 914 you would have to have a sealed crankcase ventilation system like the engine had in the 911, no little K&N breather filter off the oil tank. The charcoal canister from the 911 would probably have to be mounted and plumbed in. And you have to have an exhaust fabed with an acceptable (to CARB) cat converter in it. I can't picture where you could have a original cat mounted close enough to the heads to meet smog rules so you would have to find 1 or 2 replacement cats that are CARB certified (as in $$$) that a referee station would accept for the engine.
Could be a road full pot holes.
Jim

"A road filled with potholes" More like a lot of potholes loosely connected with a road like thing. DME system (including the tach, which is essential to the operation of the engine), the complete sealed evap system, the catalyst (as was mentioned before, a cat that the referee will accept, which means a cat APPROVED FOR USE WITH THE ENGINE AND EXHAUST SYSTEM (ALSO APPROVED) FOR THE ENGINE. Hint: There aren't any. The approval process costs tens of thousands of dollars per item or system. The transmission also has to be on the list of approved transmissions for the engine. IOW, you'd be screwed.

There was a really nice guy who imported inline 4 cylinder Jetta engines as installed in Vanagons in South Africa. Nice kit, worked well in Vanagons sold in the USA. After 5 or 6 years, maybe more, of trying to get approval for an existing system, built in a VW factory and installed on VW vehicles by VW, he gave up. The CA EPA flat out bankrupted him.

Find an older chassis. The Cap'n

A 3.2 doesn't have an OBD port. All you need is the O2 sensor and cat. If your 914 is CA you should already have the cat. Just mod the 914 exhaust to mate with the headers you'll end up getting for the 3.2 for test purposes. I put a 3.0 in a '77 911 and had the CA Ref sign it off. For whatever reason the 911 didn't require a cat and it passed emissions w/o it. Maybe the emissions criteria were kinda loose then. A 3.2 should pass also if it's in good shape. It'll probably be easier to get 3.2 to pass than a '76 4 cyl with all that ridiculous air injection, egr, and etc.

Read what the Cap'n said about exhaust. You must have exhaust with a CARB number. You probably don't want to be the first guy to spend $75,000.00 or so to get a 914-6 exhaust CARB certified. Your exhaust has to be either stock factory exhaust for that engine (which faces the wrong way) or have a CARB number plate welded on. Beyond that, all the other little details are bullshit because without that you will never be able to get it registered.

These cars are so old the refs have no clue what was or wasn't oem for that engine. When I had my 911 3.0 certified the CA Ref asked me what year the engine was. Never bothered to look at the engine #. He looked on the computer and saw a cat was not required. He ran the test, printed the compliance tag, stuck it on the door jamb and I was done.

I'm sure it's alot different if you're an aftermarket manufacturer trying to certify a system. YMMV.

You could risk it, you can do all the homework on all the different combinations and modifications, do all the conversion work on that 76' chassis, get it running and tuned and inspection ready, and possibly get away with it....

OR you could find a car atleast one year older and not ever have to worry about risking it.

Or you could find a smashed/trashed pre-76 car and transfer the numbers and title to your car, if you are really attached to yours. Highly illegal, though. A lot simpler...

True, true....

having fought with the DMV out here (where it is easy, although we have a dyno test).....


I'd consider selling your 1976 and buying a 1975-or earlier car also.

you could still save money in the long run

brant

The 3.2 911 engine is a great engine which should meet California Smog requirements IF you install all the smog equipment and take the installation through the referee station. It has to meet the equipment requirements as well as the running performance. How do I know???

I recently built a 1987 Motronic conversion which involved installing all the smog equipment since I build everything to California specs. My car is a 1974 (currently exempt) which has all the smog equipment. The smog equipment consists of the vapor recovery system, the auxiliary breather system (requires modification to the 914-6 tank or use the 911 Carrera). The Motronic injection system should be used and it does not have any "light" to worry about.

I believe your 1976 car requires a catalytic converter which should be included in the exhaust system and should be in line with the 914 car side. Cats belong to the car side therefore you should be able to get away from using the 911 Carrera exhaust system requirements.

As I said before I built my car to California specs since one of these days I will be moving back home and I expect my car to meet California requirements whether they do cancel the exemption of 1975 and prior cars.

Wiring is the next major problem and there are enough people who have done the 3.2 conversion. Sir Andy is the one to talk to if considering a 3.6 engine.

Always plan in detail and verify every piece of information such as the above before becoming involved in actually acquiring the needed parts. This conversion is expensive so make sure you really want to do it; it usually takes a lot longer than you have planned; you need equipment or access to friends who have equipment to build the project.

Although I live in Arizona (high country), my 914 will be returning to California where I will keep it on a permanent basis in the Bay Area.

Hope the above info helps you. Just got my project driving on the highway with dependability. Have many smaller assembly jobs to do and painting, but it is a great rush to drive it down the highway.

Good Luck,
Steve Hurt

I just read the comments again and Capt Krusty has some very valid points. He is normally on target and is very experienced in Porsche. Do not get involved in switching numbers from older cars; not worth the potential trouble you can get involved in.

Can you get with a referee and talk about the conversion you are planning?? You need to have some source written and verbal that gives you up to date info not based on "hear-say"

Listen to what the "Capt." says because he gives it straight. You need to verify the exhaust/cat problem with the referree if possible.

Steve Hurt

Funny as I just had this same conversation with my Porsche tech that just got his smog cerit. He mentioned a few extra points regarding this.
• Some BAR referee will even check too see if the engine is even a USA destine motor – if it’s not , they will also fail you too……even if all the smog equip is there and it could pass the emissions.
• Cali is not a very friendly state for wrench heads…. At the present time the tree huggers are wining as there is no balance.

Build a large type IV using aftermarket F.I. hide the Fuel injection computer inside the original 914 brain box.

I have a 1976 914 and I decided NOT to install a 6 on it because even having friends at DMV and CHP your car will be up to the referee and you could be doom in a second. You can install any engine the same year or newer. You must retain all smog equipment and electronics of the new engine. You will then have to take it to a referee station to get it certified, must have CARB stamp on it.
I looked in to vin swapping but wont take a chance... ease to do but too risky.

I decided to run my 76 stock with FI but going light weight by removing front and rear bumpers, hood, trunk and new skin on the targa top all replaced with fiber glass.... 250 pounds will be off the car which is like adding 25HP to the motor.... engine rebuild with euro pistons,cilinders and carrillo rods, light and balanced crank, head work and mild cams, racing 911 flywheel gives the engine a fast spin reaching power band sooner than stock making the car faster... top speed 125mph @ Cal Speedway main straight.... with 911 Carrera front end and brakes and super light weight Fuchs the car runs with the stock 911 and mild prepared boxters on the short tracks with no problems and it out brakes all of them!

Sell your 76 and get an older car, or keep your 76 and wait for the date change. Do not attempt an emissions correct conversion. Most likely the date will change before you are done anyway.

That whole emissions thing is a nightmare - better to start with something already under the radar...

Maybe we've been reading this wrong all along.

It's probably really easy to get a conversion certified in Cali - but I don't claim to know much about Colombian motor vehicle regulations...

In the Chicago suburbs, where they only looked at CO, CO2, and HC levels (and sometimes fuel tank restrictors). Our 914 3.2 (with O2) sensor passed even for an 87 car (which is what the engine is). This was back in 1991-1993, so I don't know if they are more strict now or not.


They would slide a mirror under the vehicle for some reason, but never commented either way.

Granted, they did not test the cars under load. They did have you raise the RPM to somewhere near 3,000 RPM for about a minute.

If the Central Valley Rep (Joe Flores) in Cali has his way, you will see a repeal of all "smog exemptions". Don't hold your breath that it will be reinstated.

Personally I would sell the 76 and go earlier so you do not have to ever worry about the smog BS. Way to much hassle.

I'd leave the state.
Wait - I did...

There's no reason not to keep the '76 and keep it original.
Then buy an early car - preferably someone else's started /6 conversion, or at least one with a proper 5-lug suspension. Won't cost much more than the conversion, and you get a car to drive in the meanwhile... If at the end of it all you decide you prefer the conversion, _then_ sell the '76.

What does Joe Flores have to do with smog laws in Colombia?

The Cap'n

Now now John ... are you intimating that Central California is Columbia? Hmmmmm - you might be right.

I thought J. Flores was the instigator / pusher of repealing all smog exemptions. Prolly owns a new car dealership or has his fingers in one.

or

I could be having a senior moment.

"Cali" is in Colombia. Different drugs in the Central Valley.

The Cap'n

Go to Bullhead City, AZ / Laughlin, NV. Rent a post office box from Mailbox, ETC. Bring your pink slip to DMV in AZ. Stand in line for 10 mintues (not 10 hours like Cali). Apply for AZ ID Card and register your car there. It will be 35.00 for two years. NO SMOG...ever.

You got love a Republican state where you can carry a gun and have no hassle car registratoin.

I am pretty sure that won't work....unless you actually drive the car in AZ or NV. The DMV's are cracking down and have been for a while now on out of state cars that are here long-term in CA. All it takes is an observant cop or a neighbor who has a bone to pick and you will be cited and required to get CA registration. I am just saying....

Nevada went as far as offering a $1000 reward for peeps who turn in peeps for driving with out of state plates.

The Gestapo & KGB are alive. While the gubermint can legally steal all of your money, they get really offended when you steal from them.

The catch on that Nevada registration thing is the ID card--you cant use a PO Box for that you'd have to have a physical address to make that happen...My Uncle(s) do this with their motor homes and their built rock crawler jeeps because of CA Smog and fees...

Back to the Original Post...I've had several cars that were way out of CA smog compliance--one a 914/6 conversion (before they moved the dates out), the other a Suzuki Samurai all built out...Both really sweet and SUPER smog "illegal"...just like you're 76 is going to be...

Every time I had to register them I had to find a crooked smog guy and pay anywhere from $100-500 to get a 'smog check' that would take 2 months to get the paperwork for...that will prove to be such a royal pain in the ass that you'll get frustrated and sell the car, I did, both times...

There's still a loop hole out there that California, if it gets a wild hair up it's ass, can "roll back" the exemption status and I could be back to smoging my '74 if I want the privilege of using public streets...

Get an earlier tub and go to town or buy someone else's already done conversion in a legal year!