Date:         Tue, 06 Feb 1996 09:20:00 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Maher, Steve (SD-MS)" <SMAHER@PO2.GI.COM>
Subject:      Re: Which bus hould I buy?


>> Option 2:  '67 or earlier camper.  With this I can choose any motor that
>> will fit (at least this is how I understand Californian smog laws - 
please
>
>That would be '65 or earlier.

In '65 or earlier cars (all makes), no smog inspection is required, so you
can indeed put any engine you want, with any mods you want.

In '66 and newer cars, smog inspections are required. So, you must obey
the law that says, You must have an engine THE SAME YEAR OR NEWER, as the
car. And, the engine must have all the smog stuff on it, as it did when
it came from the factory. If it's a '71 engine in a '66 bus, the engine
must have the dual-port heads, Solex 34PICT-3 carb, crappy restrictive
bus muffler, vacuum-advance distributor, etc.-- all this was stock in '71.

NOTE: My '71 bus has a '70 single-port engine, which technically is a
no-no by the above same-year-or-newer rule. But I took it in for inspection,
showed the guy the bus was a '71, then clammed up and let him do his thing.
This was at a generic smog-check place in San Diego. They did not specialize
in foreign cars or VWs as such.

The '70 engine had all the stock stuff for 1970. He should have flunked it
because the engine wasn't '71 or newer, but he passed it! Maybe he didn't
notice the difference? Or, maybe he was simply happy to see no 009
distributor, dual Dellorto carbs, quiet-pack muffler, turbocharger etc.--
all the usual suspects for hotrodding VWs.

Of course, the car must pass the correct emissions levels for the year
of the CAR. If it doesn't, you're toast-- it's fix-up time.

If you want a splittie in CA, get a '65 or earlier. Big Brother hasn't laid
his heavy paws on those... yet. Then start saving up for that 1914 with the
Webers!   :^)

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Steve Maher   smaher@gi.com   '80 V6anagon w/Chevy 2800
                              '71 VW Transporter, for sale
                              '66 Mustang Coupevertible, for sale

Please DON'T use REPLY key-- my return address is messed up.
Send replies to smaher@gi.com, and you'll live happily ever after.

Check out the cars at http://www.lookup.com/homepages/76242/home.html
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