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i would like to know what the best engine swap would be to pass california smog requirements. i know the requirements but i am not sure as to what engine would get the best performance and still be smog legal. any help would be greatly appreciated.

what ever you use i would get a complete car so you can have everything
,wire harneiss ,hoses ,pulleys ,stuff !.but if i had the choice i would get a camaro about 93 or 94 or so and use the lt1 out of that, you would have the trans also ,a bonous.good luck.

I agree wholeheartedly about getting a whole car as a donor- you can spend a ludicrous amount of time chasing all that stuff.

Do you guys have a visual inspection out there? The smog stuff just came our way (western maryland) 3 or 4 years ago, and our tests are pretty much a joke- there's no visual inspection, nobody checks for C.A.R.B. stickers or anything like that - they test your gas cap, and sniff test the exhaust for about two minutes. My LUV is old enough that it's exempt, but my box truck has made it through three inspections now, and I've got a stacked 400 in it with no smog stuff whatsoever- it's even got an open element air cleaner on it.

I used to do a fair amount of engine swaps- mostly 350s into Jag XJ6s- for guys in Baltimore, where they take the smog deal a little more seriously. They do a visual inspection there, but as long as the C.A.R.B. stickers that come with the aftermarket parts are on it somewhere, they seem to get thru OK.

A 350 with fresh plugs in it that's in a reasonable state of tune sniffs as clean as anything new with full smog gear, in my experience- my Dad's got a '49 stovebolt with a 400 and a quadrabog, and he and a bunch of his buddies went down to the smog station and had their cars tested, just for grins, since "historic" stuff is exempt here, and they all blew really clean numbers.

my 2 cents...... about the spokane testing HOLE!

i took a rig in and it failed miserably. spent $250 and it passed the shops new smog machine right there. took it to the state, and it failed again. they said "did you turn it off", I said, "damn right i did." didnt know i wasnt spozed to.

took it back to the new shop, paid another $35 for a retest and it passed w flying colors. DIDNT shut it off, took it right down and failed again. Had to get a 'referee' go up to the shop and sign off on their "state approved testing machine".

dont think this smog crap isnt made to feed the industry, if you know what i mean. just like home inspection, and all the corrections.. man, here i go....... (complain yak yak yak whine, bla bla....)friggin, bla bla bla,

(daves wife comes into the room, giving him more of his foot medication).....

Before worying you might call the smog and dept of transport and d m v I live in cal. and was going to put a 460 gas eng in an 89 desil truck and a 72 cab well you can emagine what d m v rubish was spouted at me so I got annoyed and called every dept in ca. that could have a say in the matter it turns out that there is a catagory of registration called ''a special built'' and when you mix a bunch of parts [like luv truck ,v8 ,ford rear etc] you may be able register as a special built and here is the sweet point for smog you have to meet the smog requirements of the year of the engine you use ,my 460 was a 68 and had almost 'o' smog . a pcv valve did it and there are plenty of early engines out there so check and don't be put off by all the officials that don't know their waste emmissions valve from an emmissions dump site remember 'We The People '