Date:         Thu, 28 Jan 1999 10:56:23 EST
Reply-To:     CarlMarin@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Carl Turner <CarlMarin@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Legal swaps, California rules
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

In a message dated 1/27/99 12:58:06 AM Mountain Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:

> Subject: Re: Legal swaps, California rules, long
>
>  Mark - First off, my sympathies to all who are under the, uh, directives
>  of the PRC (Peoples' Republic of California).  I feel your pain.  So,
>  you dudes/dudettes HAVE no choice but to swap an engine that is the
>  "same" year or newer than the carcass of the vehicle it is going in to?
>  Jeez, how did that crap ever come about?  Don't you guys vote out there?
>
>  Now, I'm reading on the List that such mischief is speading to the
>  heartland of America?
>
>  BOB

FWIW,  in my readings of engine swaps in various hot rod magazines over the
past several years, there seems to be consensus that to be EPA compliant in
most (many?) states one needs to swap same year or newer and its associated
engine control electronics and smog equipment.  I know the rules in Colorado
require this.   If your state currently does not require this now it probably
will in the future.  As goes California, so goes the rest of the nation
eventually.  Offhand, I'd strongly recommend anyone contemplating this
business not to build a turkey they may be stuck with in the future, unable to
sell from swapping older engine in newer vehicle.  Besides, the point of an
engine swap is to get a better engine.  Newer engines in most cases have
better engine controls for better running and better gas mileage.  Most of the
newer design engines done since '92 or so have significant mechanical
improvements from the old dinasaurs like close fitting pistons with low
tension rings for lower running drag, that sort of thing.  An excellent book
on alot of this new technology is "Advanced Engine Technology" by Heinz
Hiesler ISBN 1-56091-734-2

If you are a devotee of engine design, another standard reference in the
business is the "Automotive Handbook" by Bosch (yeah, that Bosch) ISBN #
1-56091-918-3 4th ed.

Happy reading,

Carl Turner