In my on and off again search for a Westfalia camper (1969-1978 years), I have forgotten again what the law is for transplant motors in California?

Many Westy's have Subaru transplants like the teeners of course....

76 and newer require smog.

Engine must be same year or newer.

Engine must have all original smog equipment from donor vehicle intact and working.

Mr Bellis beat me to it,but that's it in a nutshell. Must be same year or newer and everything in tack smog wise. Do yourself a favor and get a pre 76 bus. If I were shopping like you are I'd get the sweetest 72 I could.

I did this once. Put a 93 Ford 4.0 from an explorer into an 87 Bronco II.

Had to have a Referee sign off on it. So if you end up using a motor that is newer than the year of your vehicle and it's smog required.. keep everything from the donor vehicle.

Good luck!

A couple days ago I happened to see a place with Westy's for sale in San Diego.

I think it was called westies.com or similar. It was either on Hancock Street or Pickett Street, San Diego. Might try searching for them. They sell and service Westies and Vanagons.

All of those years still require smog. It is only the requirement for inspections that has changed. Do not kid yourself just because a 1975 or earlier doesn’t require an inspection it doesn’t mean that it is exempt from smog. That’s how all of those rust free cars from that era ended up being crushed. And going to a dentist is a walk in the park compared to the pain a trip to a Referee Station can cause.

What?

In California, if a vehicle doesn't require an inspection, that's precisely what it means - it's exempt from smog inspections, and currently, that pertains to model year vehicles up to and including 1975.

All vehicles are supposed to have functioning smog reduction apparatus that they were originally manufactured with, but since there are no inspections required for pre-1976 vehicles, the point is moot.

Kennedy Engineering's got a 2.2 transplant approved by CARB, so if you get a post-75 bus you can still do the transplant if you follow their model. You can find detailed info on their site. For the pre-75 cars the engine is your choice.

EDIT: I was wrong, the KEP kit is for Vanagons. Here: http://www.kennedyenginc.com/Pages/SubaruVanagonGen.aspx

It's true that you can get away with a later engine in a pre-1975 car, but if it's ever flagged, like by a smart officer asking what you have under the hood, or by one of the on-ramp air air sniffers, you're busted. Thankfully doesn't happen much, but keep that in mind... it could.

EDIT: It's a random check, a tester that sits at the side of an on-ramp testing the air for gross polluters. Google "CHP onramp emissions sniffer" for info.

On ramp sniffers? How does that work? They arbitrarily pull a car out of the pack and test with a mobile device?

Yes rhody, random checks, & they could inspect a pre-76 car for it's original equipment but how would most Chippers know original? ... it's still a risk.

IIRC there is also a Porsche flat 6 swap which has been approved. I think there are also some other engine swaps which have passed muster, which could be used.

Maltese Falcon would probably know which work & which don't - without a referee route that is.

Since you're basically looking for an aircooled bus, you're best to stay with 75 & earlier anyhoo.

If I ever win the lotto big, then I might do a 986/987/997/996 full running gear transplant into ours as a more modern waterboxer tribute to the 15-17 mid-80's Porsche built aircooled 3.2L flat-6 "Porsche B32 Carrera" T3 Vanagons. .... like that'll ever happen!

Porsche B32 Carrera - aircooled 3.2L, G50 (IIRC), 15" 5-bolt Fuchs, 4 wheel discs & suspension from the 85 911 Carrera - note Porsche Crest badge low below the B-pillar (both sides & a "3.2 Carrera" sticker is at L on lower rear hatch):
Click to view attachment Click to view attachment Click to view attachment Click to view attachment Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
(this is the one from the VW Oldtimers museum)

Since it was built for Euro/RoW use, it never had USA smog - let alone CA, but it's over 25 years old & so eligible for importation withour US-DOT mods of grey market cars, but I don't know how CA would treat it as an `85!?

Good Luck!
Tom
///////

This reminds me of a story I read years ago. I have no idea it the story was true or not, but it was about a guy who supposedly installed a mid-engine HiPo v8 in the bed of an old beat-up pick up truck and hid it under a big wooden crate.

When he was stopped by the highway patrol in his state, he claimed he couldn't possibly be speeding as fast as the officer clocked him at, and popped the hood to show the officer an old flat-head motor.

As the story goes, the flat-head had been gutted to save weight. He had been stopped several times and gotten away with his story, however, one officer wasn't convinced and inspected the undercarriage and spoiled the guy's fun.

The laws governing when smog inspections are required changes, they are not written in stone. They have changed in the past and there is no reason to think they won’t change again. There is no real auto lobby in Sacramento, as soon as any politician wants to make a name for himself the law will be changed and people will be scrambling to get their cars through smog inspections…

The CHP is not going to worry one bit when conducting roadside inspections. If they find a visual or exhaust sniffer failure they will issue a citation and you’ll be the one trying to prove to the DMV, CARB, or Court that the vehicle is in compliance…

In the central valley they have mobile, random smog inspection check points. Just sayin'

They are mostly looking for farmers using red diesel but I would not want to get caught in one.

There have been problems with putting truck engines into cars as well. Cars and trucks have to meet different standards, you see. I don't know if the Vanagon is considered a car or a truck for those purposes, but worth some research.

--DD

I'm putting an '89 turbo motor into a my '78 n/a originally equipped car, I just have to keep all the smog related stuff from the '89 and go the local ref station. Last time I checked it was $75 to get the bar code if the ref is happy.

Hmmm ... probably a good reason to have a completely code-compliant (if that's the right terminology) motor sitting in the garage, ready to drop in at a moment's notice


In certain parts of AZ, smog checks aren't required, so anything goes - at least for the moment

Same here, I have an early 80's Chevy V8 in a '77 Jaguar XJ12. It needs the smog stuff that originally came with the Chevy engine or the car, whichever is newer, then inspection by the referee and you get a CARB sticker for the door. What's cool is the sticker has smog equipment categories so once you have it you can upgrade the stock parts with other CARB legal parts, and the test station sees the sticker and doesn't know what was originally inspected so doesn't object to the new non-factory (performance) replacement parts.

It's true, Dave, they don't let truck engines go into cars, but they do vice-versa as long as you keep the newer smog equipment. That Vanagon-Subaru swap mentioned earlier took Kennedy several years and a lot of back and forth with the Air Resources Board and referees, but all the components they specify now have CARB stickers so the swap's legal. Unfortunately that was done in the 90's so it's only for the Subaru 2.2 engine, no others.

There aren't many exceptions so you're better off sticking with an exempt pre-1976 car. My 914 is a '72 with a 2005 Subaru engine, and in the unlikely case that a CHP ever notices that I'll be selling my car to someone outside California.

I believe that for the past number of years (not sure how long) you can no longer put an older motor in a newer car--only the same year or newer motor. So the smog equipment has to follow the year of the motor, not the car.

--DD

Must be same year or newer and sniff to the same values that the engine would have in its donor car.

Scary that I know so little about this since I now own a smog test station!