QUOTE(JeffBowlsby @ Nov 30 2018, 05:08 PM)
I think this may be a problem but I sincerely hope I am wrong. The CA exemption is for a smog CHECK-only. All vehicles must still comply with CA emission requirements applicable to their year. So you drive up with an engine swap car, cannot pass the smog check and...you cannot get titled in CA.
For anyone thats done this in CA...am I wrong?
That label BTW is for a 49-state 1.8L car. If thats what your car was ... then great. If it was a 2.0L car or a CA-model...it would not be correct.
Actually, i did some digging on this when i swapped in the 3.6L engine.
First off, Jeff is correct, you are only exempt from the smog *check*, you still must comply with whatever the smog requirements were at the time.
And here is where this gets a bit more complicated, when you do an engine swap, your car (Since it's a '75) is still exempt from the test but you will have to have the smog equipment from the year of your engine that you are swapping in!
So in my case, the car is exempt from testing since it's a '70 but technically, i have to have the smog equipment installed that came with my '95 993 engine.
I've never seen them actually enforce that but if they really wanted to, they could make you install all the original smog equipment that came with your WRX engine.