Date:         Sat, 22 Jan 2000 09:12:24 EST
Reply-To:     KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Subject:      Re: C.A.R.B. Legalities. Was  Re: VW Trends and Eurospec
Comments: To: BenTbtstr8@aol.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Ben, the other thing to think about is the Federal rule that, if you do an
engine swap, that the engine come from a vehicle that is the same model year
or newer than yours.  Therefore you couldn't really put a '75 Rabbit motor
into a 85 Vanagon and have it legal.

The reason that Eurospec had to get CARB approval for their engine (from what
I have heard) is because it is an engine that doesn't exsist in nature.  In
other words, it is an engine that was never in production, or was ever
installed in cars before E-spec decided using it for their conversions.  What
I have heard (from folks who have inspected the conversion and from E-spec
themselves) is that the motors they were using were Rabbit/Golf/Jetta blocks
with an Audi 2.0l head on them that they put together.  Since this motor had
never been in a production automobile, it was critical that they got CARB
approval for it before it ever went to inspection.
Alot of folks think (as I did) that the CARB approval means that you don't
have to have the van inspected by a referee, or that it is instantly
approved.  I have heard that this is not true.  That even with the approval,
you still have to have each conversion inspected by a referee, and
individually approved anyway, the CARB stuff just helps this process go along
faster, or gives you more of a guarantee that it will be approved.

I am just glad that here in the "People's Republic of New Jersey" we aren't
bound by oppressive laws like you are in California.  You'll have to excuse
me now the Thought Police are here and I'm in trouble again. :)

Ken Wilford
http://www.vanagain.com
John 3:16
Office (856)-765-1583
Shop (856)-327-0027
Fax   (856)-327-2242