Sean said he'd give you a big hug.

Street vs. Off road only
 

We will make a minimally streetable car.

For those who voted for a track car this mostly just means that we have to keep some basic electrics for indicators, and register as a "show" car. The main reason for choosing this direction is so that we can get some rolling promotion when going to some local events and we aren't building anything so insane as to require a true off road only focus.

Then you need to find the list of requirements for it to be street legal. You may have to keep wipers, mirrors, lights, T/S's, Hazard flashers, collapsible steering column, air bags, inertia switches, fuel tank, and a shit pot more. Do your homework before you strip anything else.

Yep. I can always change my mind to the easier way. :smack: Just wanted to state this was the intention.

Stop trying to cause problems Bird. :pot_stir:

I don't think many cops will look under your car for a stock gas tank or... inertia switches :confused: :sm_laughing:

I'd even ditch the wipers. You will obviously never be able to sell this car as street legal ever again, but you can get away with a lot with show car registration.

5050. The Legislature finds and declares that constructive leisure pursuits by California citizens is most important. This article is intended to encourage responsible participation in the hobby of collecting, preserving, restoring, and maintaining motor vehicles of historic and special interest, which hobby contributes to the enjoyment of the citizen and the preservation of California's automotive memorabilia.


5051. As used in this article, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) “Collector” is the owner of one or more vehicles described in Section 5004 or of one or more special interest vehicles, as defined in this article, who collects, purchases, acquires, trades, or disposes of the vehicle, or parts thereof, for his or her own use, in order to preserve, restore, and maintain the vehicle for hobby or historical purposes.

(b) “Special interest vehicle” is a vehicle of an age that is unaltered from the manufacturer’s original specifications and, because of its significance, including, but not limited to, an out-of-production vehicle or a model of less than 2,000 sold in California in a model-year, is collected, preserved, restored, or maintained by a hobbyist as a leisure pursuit.


Not sure which if any of these it would go under. I could stop by my friends house and see what he did with his truck if necessary, but I hope AAA or the DMV would know more on this.

I will ask when I go to AAA after picking up the motor soon. My initial independent research has only found a class for "Custom Built Car" registration. This is not an easy process. It requires lots of documentation, a safety inspection by the CHP, and yes, a smog inspection by the BAR, based on some mysterious calculus determined by the year of the engine and chassis. In other words, lots of grey areas. However, this classification actually means the car is road legal, period. If the show car registration works out as you describe, sounds pretty easy in comparison and would be appropriate for our purposes.

I am not sure how these special registration would work for our project but from what I understand with these rules is in order for you to pass smog in CA the engine would have to be from a car that year or newer. IE if the car is a '87 RX-7 then the motor would have to a '87 or newer motor and the smog rules would be applicable to the year of the motor.

This isn't the case here. I know ALL about street legal engie swaps. In no sense is that what we're even eligible for.

There seem to be two of additional classes of registration
- Custom Built
Requires extensive documentation and inspections. A swap doesn't qualify in and of itself, but doing what we are could plausibly qualify. If you get this level of registration, it's actually a street car. Seems to be pretty tedious.

- Show Car
As suggested by enkei. Severely restricted on road use. Basically you need to be coming from or going to an event. Period. However, the requirements are much lower, including a complete smog waiver. If this is what's available, it's what I'll go for. If not, I'll "probably" go for the off-road only registration. I know what it's like to deal with the state. It's not sooo bad, but it is tedious.

You are correct. This is the Custom that Ben is talking about. This is the same that my brother had to do to his FJ40 to put the SBC in it. He had to have all the smog equipment for the year of the engine, not the chassis. If he had used the 1969 FJ instead of his 1978 this wouldn't have been an issue.