smog loophole

for all us bd's who've wanted to have a turbo beastie under the hood, i may have stumbled upon a CA legal motor swap. As i am currently taking the Ca Clean Air Car smog classes i have been scrutinizing the laws and regulations. I have found that with a decent commitment you could swap any stock 05 or up legy GT turbo motor and get it refereed by the state. as long as you reffed it with all the correct equipment it would be COMPLETELY LEGAL even in Ca where emissions standards and smog testing is at its worst...

I'd love to know more about this... do you have any links or other references? I may be moving back to CA (from UK) and will either build a TT 2.0, import an RSB or do what you've mentioned. Problem is, I've put so much work into my UK Leggy and I don't want to leave it behind!

You've always been allowed to swap in another motor for at least a decade.

 

If your car is 1996' it has to be from another 1996 or newer Subaru CANNOT be a JDM motor, only USDM available motors, JDMs won't pass visual unless you have a very inexperience tech(dyno will fail it possibly if it makes it past tech due to compression and emission EQ). It' must retain CA emissions equipment, EGR, Cats, O2s etc. You can put an 04' WRX swap in your 98 RS but you must follow proper channels to get it BAR'd

 

If you properly swap You will get a BAR sticker/plate with your car year/model/vin and it will say on it also have the year/model/vin the engine is from unless they'v changed format. Making it legal.

 

Example a 04' WRX CAN'T put in a 02' WRX motor. The head and block will have years/serials/vins stamped or attached and it wont match. Has to be an 05 or higher.

 

If you have a ej22e in 96' and you need to replace with 98 ej22e you can do this without getting it BAR since is the same engine your car has. That's why in CA people rebuild their engines more and stroke them to retain stock block appearance and skip the BAR deal.

 

*Cliffs

Can't BAR JDM motor and older motors than your car legitimately BUT you can bar USDM engine and turbo motors as long as it is same year or newer. Engine, Sensors, ECUs, Emission EQ must be from the same year of motor(example buy a full swap from same car or buy a full donor car)

 

*Bonus

Modifications like intake, catbacks, upgrade turbo kits must be CARB Legal (Mainstream Exhaust like Greddy, 5Zigen, HKS.. Greddy turbo kits, injen, aem intakes etc are legal) approved and have stickers, stamps or documentation proving so if challenged my LEO or Ref. Sucks for CA guys since you have to buy name brand stuff to be legal instead of Ebay $80 intake you have to buy an AEM $180 one

I Mostly agree with what you say ineedmorepsi, the only part i disagree with is buying name brand parts over cheapy eBay parts. the difference is that you should be able to add any aftermarket part with an E.O. Carb certification that is made for the '05 and up legacy's turbo motor. so in theory you could even build it up more than stock and keep it Ca legal as long as they ARENT uncert'd eBay parts.

05 and newer turbo cars are DBW and CAN data. for CA it sounds like a mess, you would have to use a 04 forester XT ecu to avoid CAN.

tom

As long as all of the accompanying smog equipment, i.e. EGR, PCV, TWC, Evap, Etc. is there it should be no problem. as long as the motor is from a newer LEGACY that means just do a full swap from an '05 or newer. Im not saying cheap, or easy. but totally badass! and if you love your car enough its worth it.

damnn thats awesome skibob6!

 

 

Sadly there are rarely enough wrecked 05lgt's out ther for motors to be widely available. The wiring shouldn't be no harder than if doing a wrx swap.

If your car is 1996' it has to be from another 1996 or newer Subaru CANNOT be a JDM motor,

 

 

WRONG

 

dont have to be the same make, but must be newer and USDM motor

 

 

LS1 FC, completely street/smog legal

WRONG

 

dont have to be the same make, but must be newer and USDM motor

 

 

LS1 FC, completely street/smog legal

 

No shit, we are talking about subaru engine swaps only. If he would of said v8 i6 v6 rotary I would of said the same thing. 96 or newer and must have all CA smog EQ.

 

 

Skibob,

I rather buy Sure Win Cat-back, and Megan Racing Downpipe for $400 shipped off Ebay then have to buy a CARB approved catback and downpipe for $1200 +shipping it's just piping, sheet metal, fiberglass/steel woven packing. I can tig weld a turbo-back while building my own muffler in my back yard. Why does it need CARB approval. F*** California and their stupid money making schemes and shame on the big shops that don't fight it because they too are in on the CARB monopoly.

 

$75 Ebay intake VS $200 AEM/INJEN intake that make the same power and last the same lifetime.

 

I'm all about Function > Form and getting your moneys worse. I'm glad in PA we don't have to deal with that crap, even if they tried to we the people would not stand for it(they tried numerous times). We like to be left alone.

As long as all of the accompanying smog equipment, i.e. EGR, PCV, TWC, Evap, Etc. is there it should be no problem. as long as the motor is from a newer LEGACY that means just do a full swap from an '05 or newer. Im not saying cheap, or easy. but totally badass! and if you love your car enough its worth it.

 

Your confused, and your going to school/taking classes for this, pay more attention. I live in PA and know the rules better than you. Maybe it's because I'm probably 10 years older than you and been in this car scene for 12 years or because I have 3 cousins who are ASE Master Techs and 2 more relatives that are LAPD in good ol state of CA.

 

It can be any usdm 96 or newer subaru engine, doesn't have to be an 05' Legacy.

^ dude if you really wanna call me out ill go look it up in the laws and regulations book. But yah you could swap any same year or newer motor. Thats not the f@#$ing point! its that you could do a CA legal turbo motor, which just happens to be an 05 GT.

A damn 02' WRX is a usdm turbo motor too. Cheaper than an 05' Legacy swap by far.