JoeinCA Posted August 29, 2001 Share Posted August 29, 2001 hey. I recently picked up a stock 77 280z... the engien is not too bad, i think a ring just went south but... aside from that i want more power. I have a 67 327 engine sitting on a stand in my garage, and i have another 68 327 that is really nice sitting in an imoveable 57 bel air... so i want to use one of these engines... the problem for me is, of course, living in california. do you guys think i could pass smog with the v 8 in there? also, what smog equipment would need to be installed? thanks for your time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 29, 2001 Share Posted August 29, 2001 Not with that engine. California in its infinite wisdom requires a visual inspection regardless if its poluting less than the standard allows. For a 1977 car, you would need a 1977 engine or newer engine and it would require all the smog equipment as originally installed on that engine. It would then go to a referee station where it would be judged as ok, given a special sticker and then you'd be ok. If I were going to do all that, I'd buy a later camaro complete and just swap in the entire engine/trans with all the smog equip and run a catalitic converter. It would still be pretty quick but would be legal after the above gyrations were finished. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinCA Posted August 29, 2001 Author Share Posted August 29, 2001 well.... hmm, california sucks, doesnt it though? i want all that beautiful torque from the older engines... i guess i will have to hold off until i can aquire a 70-73 240. [ August 29, 2001: Message edited by: joeinCA ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted August 29, 2001 Share Posted August 29, 2001 What does the referee station mean by "engine"? In my other catalytic converter post someone said my late '69 block in my '73 was ok if the emissions complied or something. I thought the entire engine had to be '73 or newer (in my case). Do they give special considerations if my car has the older block but is still substantially cleaner? If not, I'm not going to get the sticker... Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C Posted August 29, 2001 Share Posted August 29, 2001 This has always been a confusing issue as they change the rules all the time At one time, with engine swaps, all of the emissions devices form either the car or the engine were required depending on what was newer. If you put a '65 327 in a '69 Camaro, you had to have all emissions devices as OEM on a '69 Camaro. I would think this still applied. ie your 65 motor would have to have all of the emissions devices as found on a '77 Datsun (air pump, PCV, charcoal cannister, catalyst) This can get prohibitively expensive which is the advantage of going with a newer engine which should be complete. Since the rules do and have changed you should find out if you can get copies of the Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 29, 2001 Share Posted August 29, 2001 Hey JoeinCA, want to sell one of those 327s???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 29, 2001 Share Posted August 29, 2001 I too live in this god forsaken tree huggers paradise... I want to swap an 83zxt engine into my 77 280... This was an out of state car so it had no cat... When I put the engine in do I have to add a cat because the donor car had one? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C Posted August 29, 2001 Share Posted August 29, 2001 You will need the cat to pass the visual inspection. All cars sold in the US 1975 and later originally had catalytic converter. Someone has just removed it in your cars past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John Adkins Posted August 29, 2001 Share Posted August 29, 2001 How do the smog police determine the year of the engine you put in if you do an engine swap? Do they check casting numbers or something else? I wonder how hard would it be to disguise a '67 327 Chevy as a '77 350? After all, small block Chevys look basically alike from the outside Add all smog stuff for the inspection purposes (in '77 they probably had EGR,AIR pump,cat, etc) , then after passing the inspection they could mysteriously disappear till the next inspection... [ August 29, 2001: Message edited by: John Adkins ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted August 30, 2001 Share Posted August 30, 2001 Casting numbers basically...that can be used to identify the year or period that the block was made. Performance guys naturally look at these to find the strongest blocks, etc. What's so stupid is that even if the block was old, if the entire engine was equipped with smog stuff and did not turn the sky black at the time of testing, then why not? My smog stuff would then mysteriously disappear too Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinCA Posted August 30, 2001 Author Share Posted August 30, 2001 Well, the engines are most definetly not for sale... I guess i will have to part out my 83 and take the parts and sell them... then buy a 73 Z... sell my 77 for a small profit, and do the swap, or i could just save more cash and get a newer v8.. but do they really have the same power and torque? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted August 30, 2001 Share Posted August 30, 2001 Welcome to the forum, Joe! As the guys have indicated: Since your car is a post '73 car, it is subject to the biannual smog inspection. the engine you install MUST be a '77 or later engine, complete with all smog devices as what Mike C just indicated. Owen brought up a good point: what is considered "the motor?" Well, you catalytic converter is NOT the motor and is part of the chassis--does the '77 come with one? Yes? Then by golly, you have to run a cat! The exhaust manifolds are sometimes a gray area, but are generally considered part of the engine. Why? They have AIR tubing attached to them in the later motors (or you can get "tapped" headers from a number of companies, including Sanderson). The easy way out is to find some tapped Ramshorn (centerdump manifolds) manifolds from the local junkyard and just use those. You must buy the JTR manual for pertinent information such as this--it will answer ALL of the smog questions (ok 99% anyway) and more! I highly recommend it! Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted August 30, 2001 Share Posted August 30, 2001 BTW, you want to be very careful about swapping in an out of state motor in a CA car--the state will nail you on that. make sure it is a CA state motor. Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 30, 2001 Share Posted August 30, 2001 What I meant was that my 77 was an out of state car... it had a sticker under the hood saying "non-catalyst" and lacked the floor temp gauge that the cat'ed cars had... So is it ok to have no cat on the 77 which never had one? I think the zxt is a CA car.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted August 30, 2001 Share Posted August 30, 2001 Hmmmmm..very interesting. If the Z was an out of state car to begin with, Andy, and was smog legal from the get go, then logic dictates that you will not need the cat if it did not come with one (but let the buyer beware--CA smog laws are not always based in logic). As long as the ZXT is CA, you are ok there. The cat is part of the chassis, not the engine, and I would proceed as such. This is what I would do: Take the CA legal turbo motor and install in the Z. If the referree station hassled me about it (I really don't think they would because of the reasons I just mentioned) then I would have a high flow cat installed after the fact to satisfy them. However, I really don't think they will make the car get one. Why? SAFETY! The non-cat cars have no insulation or heat-related safety devices to deal with an increadibly hot catalytic converter (they can cause interior fires in cars that kill people = not a good thing). I'm 99% sure I'm correct here. Good luck! Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 30, 2001 Share Posted August 30, 2001 hey i have a 72 240 (smog exempt)if you want it you can have it....you just have to get it...its stored on oregon...i just have a few parts off of it i want and ill give you everything i take off, for example,like i have the toyota brakes ...but ill give you the factory z brakes off another one of my cars...it also had a 283 in it before so it is ready for a V8....just reply or e-mail me and let me know if your interested....this applies to anyone interested as well....thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 31, 2001 Share Posted August 31, 2001 thanks for the info davy... gearhead, what part of oregon is it in? I could go visit my aunt in hood river andrent a uhaul and drive it back. Fraga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 31, 2001 Share Posted August 31, 2001 Fraga280, the 240z is in Eugene,OR right now. it does have some rust on it and there are some parts off of it i would want but like i said i would replace them with at least the factory z parts off of another car,so you would at least have a hole car so to speak...let me know how serious you are cause there are a few people asking about it already.....just let me know one way or another....thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinCA Posted August 31, 2001 Author Share Posted August 31, 2001 whole car, minus engine? heh, i will take it.. do you think there is any way we could arrange to have it shipped? then i wouldnt have to wait untilmy next vacation to try to go and get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 31, 2001 Share Posted August 31, 2001 One of my uncles lives in Eugene... Maybe he could pick it up for me... Where is the rust and how bad? Fraga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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