Re: [T3] stuff / DMV and what year?

[LaRoucheD1@aol.com]

From: LaRoucheD1@aol.com
Return-path: <LaRoucheD1@aol.com>
To: mekennedy@stkate.edu
Subject: Re: [T3] stuff / DMV and what year?
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 16:13:31 EDT
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

Meghan in St. Paul MN wrote

<< On our Chevy truck, at least, it has an '85 body, but an engine from '75
 and we are exempt from emissions testing ('75 and older here).  To get
 that, though, Dave had to sit down with piles of books in a library and
 find the engine codes and make photocopies to prove to them that it really
 was a 1975 engine.  They gave him a piece of paper that gives the truck
 permanent exemption as long as he leaves the same engine in there. >>

Minnesota must have vehicle emissions laws that are different than most of the
other states. I used to work for the fleet maintenance dept. of Pacific Bell
in CA about 10 years ago. Any time there was an engine swap involved the
emissions equipment for the newer of the two (engine or vehicle) had to be
installed. Example: If someone wanted to put a '90 corvette motor in their '70
pick-up the equipment from the '90 motor had to be installed to keep it legal.
Conversley if someone wanted to put a '70 motor in their '90 car the equipment
from the '90 car had to be installed on the earlier motor. There is a book
that all emissions inspectors are supposed to use that lists all the different
engines and smog equipment that came with each different model vehicle. 
After I moved here to North Carolina I became a NC state vehicle inspector
where the smog rules are the same. (in most counties) There are exceptions,
but they are few. The only reason I got away with putting carbs on my '71
square was that some models still had carbs on them (at least the book said
so).
Of course this can all change depending on how well you know your inspector
and how strict the inspector is.
As far as body/frame swaps go, I believe the DMV always uses the frame to
determine the year of the vehicle.

David