I've been thinking about doing this lately. I'm gonna be setting my truck up with some nitrous in the next few weeks and if at some point i blow the engine, then an engine swap might be a good replacement. Maybe drop a 4.8/5.3 into my colorado. I know a few local shops that are willing and its not too hard of a swap(engine mounts bolt on, there's a complete harness available, etc).

My question comes down to the smog referee issue. Should the engine/tranny together and go down to the local referee to make sure everything is all kosher before doing the swap, or do they want you to swap first then get the inspection?

 

heres a tip....



DONT TELL THEM!

just do it and make it look as factory as possible.. how are they gonna know? engines dont have numbers (VIN related anyway) and unless they get real into it and take a mirror to look on the back of the block they wont see the "6.0L" stamped on the block

just my .02

 

normally i would agree, but i'm not going from silverado 4.8 to 6.0

I'm thinking about going colorado 3.5(5cyl) to silverado 4.8/5.3.

It'd be just a little hard to trick them with that. And the V8 is only offered in 09'. If i had an 09 it would easier to do that trick.

 

From what I understand about California, donor has to be from the same year or newer vehicle as the patient. All emission have to be in place as they were on the donor vehicle. And the inspection takes place after the swap is complete.

I think you also have to provide the VIN of the donor vehicle.

I might be from TN, but since other states have to potential to adopt California rules, I looked it up. Lucky for me, we currently have no emissions testing here.

 

now that the colorado is available with the 5.3 you can do the swap and take it to the referee station. They will handle it from there, I would suggest a call to the CARB.

 

How thorough do they check into the engine bay? do they just hook everything up and see if it passes or do they make sure its the same engine and everything?

 

They're retardedly strict. They check every little detail. My old jeep failed because after our EFI kit was installed, the installer used the wrong type of CEL led. The jeep ran fine and passed emissions with flying colors.

Ironically, the brake lights didnt work, but nevermind that. Just as long as the led worked.

 

I think our ref system is not operational at this time do to tax cuts, Don't quote me on this cause last time I checked was last year. I was planning on a 6.0l 240sx.

 

From what I have read you have to have all the emission stuff attached! Now it doesn't say bolted down or hood on A lot of people attach all the factory stuff and don't mod any of it to fit! Get refereed then clean the engine bay up and fix all the issues. You will fail if you cut up the factory air box or intake tube. However if the intake box is ducktaped to the side of the truck you will be fine

 

well don't get me wrong, i don't mind having all my emissions garbage attached. I just don't wanna do a swap and have to pay those ******* a dozen times before they OK it.