I was wondering if anybody here has experience building a CA emissions legal 383 stroker? Im sure I can make legal 350, but I really want 383. Also, I want to carb it. If anyone has any experience it would really help me out in my future plannning, thanks!!

There is no reason that a 383 can't be made legal enough to pass inspection. While not "strictly" legal, just as a 350 wouldn't "strictly" be legal, the extra stroke will not, in and of itself, cause it to fail.

As far as a carb, the only way you can do that is if you have a LG4 car; and you leave the LG4 stuff on it. The stock carb, stock ECM, stock distributor, stock intake (or one with an EO #), stock exhaust (or one with an EO #); every wire, hose, sensor, solenoid, and other device installed, connected, and operating. Cat, AIR, EGR, EFE valve, evap canister, and so on.

Yeah, I have a LG4 in it right now with a CC Q-Jet. What I want to do is get a similar year 350 block throw on a stroker kit, aftermarket heads, intake, exhaust, ignition, mild cam, and everything, then switch over my stock air and fuel setup. Of course it will need some tuning to make it streetable. If anybody sees any holes in my plan please let me know. I'm hoping with this mild smog legal setup to run low to low-mid thirteens. Of course this whole plan is going to take a while being that I am still a fulltime college student, but I am currently looking for a block locally to start on it. Thanks, and long live Third-Gens!!!

One-piece rear main seal, internally-balanced stroker crank, will use a neutral balance damper, just like the LG4. One less tip-off.

If you want to run low 13's you can do that with a regular 350 block and use the money for the stroker crank towards a better set of heads.
Where in CA do you live?

I live in Fresno, and pollution is pretty bad here so I expect them to be especially strict with the smog laws. I figure that I can run good times with a 350, but the thought of 383 is so tempting. Wouldn't better heads increase emmisions?

Not necessarily.

Hey I live in Fresno too and have been thinking of doing an engine swap or getting my engine stroked but I'm not sure about the emissions part of it.

sofa pretty well sums it up.

Stroking a 305 is a pretty desperate measure. Technically, it isn't legal, but as sofa said. . .

Well in your guys experience would I be able to make reasonable power out of an emissions 383, because I don't see a reason to build one if I can't even build it to its actual street potential without passing smog( the referee should be easy to pass as I already have all the emission parts on my running car right now), might as well keep the block a mild/aggressive 350 and spend extra money towards better quality parts, like Kevin91Z said. After this thread I now kind of feel like its a toss up. Yeah, dekoy411, Fresno seems like the worst place, only second to LA, to even think about doing a legal engine swap. I've been reading on the forums and most people here will tell you stroking a 305 is a waste of time. Thats what I wanted to do first, but then I saw the power the 350 guys were making and their respective ET's. Building the engine is not a problem, but finding out that it won't pass smog after spending a couple grand on it is a different story.If you guys were in my and dekoy411's position what kind of build would you do? Thanks, sorry if I seem to be having guys repeat yourselves!!

Take a look at the 350 in my sig. It's basically a clone of the "HO 350 Camaro Kit" the factory used to make, which used a ZZ4 engine as the base - I used iron heads instead of the ZZ4 aluminum, and added headers. You might have issues if you put the pieces of the kit together, but perhaps not. The biggest giveaway of the ZZ4 would be the aluminum heads, but they are factory heads (same thing used on '86-1/2-'91 Vette TPI).

If you want to build it yourself, get a 350 roller lifter block. Build it with pistons to give about 9.3-9.5:1 CR. Your '87 LG4 system has the knock sensor, so that is a plus. The ZZ4 roller cam is very sniffer friendly and still produces decent power. Use factory 64cc heads such as were used on the L98, or emissions-legal replacements (World S/R Torquers, for instance; there are many others). The ZZ4 intake or an EGR-type Performer or Action +, dual snorkel air cleaner. For the exhaust, Edelbrock L69 TES, L69 EFE valve, and L69 cat, 3" cat-back. With a 350 knock sensor and module, and the rest of your LG4 stuff, properly tuned, it should burn clean and look just like your current 305. No need for a referee.

If you want to do that with a 383, it'll still burn clean, and if you use the internally-balanced crank, it'll still look like the 305.

Thought id update this topic and say that I did swap in a 383 tbi and it did pass smog perfectly fine actually had pretty low numbers.

Just a tip... the AFR 180cc and 195cc "street ported" heads are CARB certified and 50-state legal

(I don't think the competition ported ones are, but I could be wrong on that)