PetesPonies
Well-Known Member
to draw a line in sand in regards to catalytic converters and allow postings on engine swaps that would fall under the same Federal Emission laws that removing a converter would.
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very mature comment there . . . congrats
to draw a line in sand in regards to catalytic converters and allow postings on engine swaps that would fall under the same Federal Emission laws that removing a converter would.
Federal law says that the swap must meet one of two requirements.
It must
A) match a certified configuration of the same or newer chassis. This means that if I rip out my 2.9 and replace it with a 4.0 (which I am going to do) I am ok under Federal law. The same with my current setup. I have an 89 engine, 88 computer an 88-92 cat in my 87 truck. This meets Federal requirements (I matched a newer model year to the letter), but not the requirements for my state as the use of completely 88+ parts deletes the EGR system (the parts must be present and appear like they could function). Under this rule the people who swap carbed V8 engines into their post 87 trucks are in violation because 87 was the last year a carb was used on any Ranger engine.
or
B) It must be proven that the emissions of the vehicle have not been adversely affected. The statute indicates that this would require a proper test of the swapped vehicle, however there are ways to approximate this.
For example, the Explorer was still roughly the same chassis as the Ranger. There was some divergence over the years, but they are still the same weight class, still both considered "light duty trucks" by their manufacturer. So swapping the 5.0 out of a 98 Explorer into you 92 Ranger and keeping everything as it would have been in the Explorer could be argued to meet this requirement without performing an actual test.
On the other hand, cutting out the cat is cutting out the cat and can only have one effect on emissions.
I'm currently building a 65 Mustang for my mom. Am I required to have cats? Not by a long shot. They weren't even put into use until 10 years after the car was built. Am I gonna use them when I build the exhaust? You bet.
y
its illegal by federal standards to put a v8 in a ranger PERIOD.
For light-duty vehicles, installation of a light-duty eng~ne into a different light-duty vehicle by any
person would be considered tampering unless the resulting vehicle is identical (with regard to all
emission related parts, engine design parameters, and engine calibrations) to a certified configuration of
the same or newer model year as the vehicle chassis, or if there is a reasonable basis for knowing that
emissions are not adversely affected as described in Memo 1A. The appropriate source for technical
information regarding the certified configuration of a vehicle of a particular model year is the vehicle
manufacturer.
The appropriate source for technical
information regarding the certified configuration of a vehicle of a particular model year is the vehicle
manufacturer.