Yes. It is now official. The jury is in and my 4.9L swap into my 87 GT has been officially "approved" by the smog police (more commonly known in Cali as Bureau of Automotive Repair or BAR).

I spent a total of about 1 hour at the referee station and the only time I called BAR was to schedule the appointment. Easy.

I know I will get asked so here is a brief rundown of how to do this in CA if you don't want to mess with BAR and/or get it done painlessly as possible. I got mine done as an engine change not as a special construction vehicle.

1. Make sure the configuration is the same as the donor vehicle. Engine, trans, wiring and computer have to match. Sorry no manual trannys. I am not even going to go into that headache - there are others who can explain it better than I.
2. Do a good job on the install. Sloppy work will almost always guarantee that they look harder to find a reason not to pass it.
3. Functioning ALDL and SES or check engine lamp.
4. Engine set at the proper timing.
5. Visual shows all the emission equipment in place in good condition and functional.
6. Pass a tailpipe exhaust gas test.

A huge amount of thanks to Rockcrawl for assisting with this. You are the man Jon!!

For those that want a bit more info, my sig pic is linked to my website.

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Glad to see that. There is hope for the rest of the CA engine swappers.

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Red 88 GT T-Top 3800 Supercharged
White 88 GT Stock
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History of Skitimes Car

Nice job! It's nowhere near as hard as people make out.

quote Originally posted by TK: Nice job! It's nowhere near as hard as people make out.

If you are making this comment, I would have to reply by saying you have never tried to get a V8 Fiero through CA Smog.

It is extremely difficult. The issue is the visual check. Which IMHO is complete BS considering the car passes through the tail pipe.

It's unfortunate that CA makes this kind of thing so difficult. It really doesn't have to be. I mean...really...what difference does it make if the car passes "visual" as long as it is running clean.

I've always suggested that a person talk to BAR BEFORE you start the swap. Then you know where you stand. I always do that first although I now know what is a cinch and where I'd be pusing my luck.

At the risk of being an a$$ (again), if you get hung up on the logic (why does it matter if...?) you will just continue to be pissed.

I think that's why the 4.9/3800SC/4T6xE and DOHC as such good choices.

What did BAR in Sacramento say? Don't talk to the local refs. They aren't the decision makers in the end.

I'm near Sac and off for two weeks in early June. Maybe I'll make an appointment at the main office and talk with them.

[This message has been edited by TK (edited 05-15-2003).]

quote Originally posted by TK: I'm near Sac and off for two weeks in early June. Maybe I'll make an appointment at the main office and talk with them.

Please PM me after you speak with them. I would be interested in what they tell you. By the way, my experience with the smog ref is on the local level.

[This message has been edited by RDosdorian (edited 05-16-2003).]

SD - BIG CONGRATULATIONS ! Please keep posting here guys. To me, this doesn't seem easy; the VISUAL is a personal call made by the inspector at the smog station/local referee because he's the one looking at the car. i find it easy to believe that (1) of you had an easy time and the other difficult because of the personal judgments made during visual by the guy issuing the smog certificate. Count me in for also not understanding the logic behind a "visual" that fails the car after it passes the "tail-pipe" test, especially after I see all the smoking tailpipes driving around LA everyday !? I may be doing this swap on the 1988 GT I just bought. Thanks and MUCH GOOD LUCK !!

[This message has been edited by PaulJK (edited 05-16-2003).]

Hey nice job...You got the luck... I have heard different versions about the exhaust setup.

1) I was told you have to have all the original caddy exhaust system from the manifold to the tail pipe....I know this cant be true..
2) You need the original caddy exhaust from Manifold to ypipe collector, including all O2's and cat.
3) Doesn't matter how you set it up, but you have to have all O2's and cat.

So what is it...??? I heard there are some years with two O2's that are more hard to swap.
And that there are a simpler year with only one O2...