engine swap under Cali regulations

[brother rat]

Hi there. I have a 94 single cab, short bed ranger with the 2.3L which has served very well for many years now. I've been reading up on swapping a 4.0 OHV, I think that would make for a fun little truck. I'm wondering if anyone in California has done this swap before. How hard was it to get CARB approved? Might be able to get away with it - I don't really see why a good running 4.0 OHV couldn't pass the emissions test for a 2.3L.
Any experience or advice? Thanks.

 

[brother rat]

Anyone?
I know there's some California boys here.

 

[LearjetMinako]

I'm not from California, but one of my friends was. I remember him telling about doing an engine swap on one of his vehicles. The problem was, Cali requires you to install the same engine that would be originally equiped on the vehicle. So if your Ranger came with a 2.3L, you need to swap in another 2.3L.

Maybe someone else can chime in on this better. Or you can do a little research on the internet.

 

[RangerSVT]

A 4.0 was an engine option in 94, so you perform the swap. Where emmisions comes in (cali's favorite) is you must use the same year or newer motor and all related emmisions components that the motor originally came with. Happy hunting!

SVT

 

[brother rat]

thank you for the insight, fellas.

 

[RangerBoy94]

I bought my truck with a blown 4.0 I was able to buy a 95 4.0 I believe and rebuilt it and swaped the engines out. I had 0 problems smoging it.