New emissions laws are coming to town next month. I am building up a 383 to put into my car......I figure....well with all this new crap with the laws coming.....I dont have a good chance of passing inspection with the new engine....if Im not going to pass....why should I pay more money for heads that have heat risers......headers with AIR, and a Superram intake with EGR provision that is a pain in the a$$ to put on. Why not save a few hundred by going with non heatriser heads, non AIR headers, and a miniram..which will also give me more power, and look a bit better in my opinion. The answer......feds. So what do you guys think? Am I, along with anyone else doing a swap, screwed with the new laws........should I go with the EGR setup and hope I pass...or go with the non egr setup...and know I wont pass? I dont want to build a track only car here...I want to beable to drive it on the street without worrying about being pulled over for not having a current inspection sticker....and no I dont want to wait until my car is 24 years or however old it needs to be to be exempt. If you have information that is..."sensitive" please email me multiple68@yahoo.com

 

Why spend the extra money? I think you answered your own question - so you can drive it.

Keep the cam reasonable, lower the fuel pressure a little when you go to get it tested, no reason you shouldn't pass. Bud here has a Big Mouth on a heavily modified ZZ3 (things like ZZ9 cam, 1.6 rockers, zero-decked block, CNC ported heads, extrude honed plenum/runners/heads, custom chip, dual cats, 4.10 gears). He had to plumb exhaust up to the intake because the ZZ3/4 heads don't have the crossover. He put 19 lb injectors in before going into the test, passed visual and our dyno sniffer with a "fast pass" - readings so low it didn't have to go through the full test. Side benefit was his ETs were lower with the 19 lb injectors than they were with 24 lb.

Or, you could go with an LT1 system...

 

Ditto what five7kid said. If you have no method to get an inspection sticker on a non-emissions compliant vehicle, then you should go to the trouble to get the emissions legal components. Unless this is a full-time race car, what good is not being able to drive on the streets? It's nothing but a big paper weight.

IF you decide to go the non-emissions legal route, I would recommend the Holley Stealth Ram over the Miniram. It's similar in design, if not possibly better. It also costs $450 plus shipping with the fuel rails, as opposed to the $1300 or so for the Miniram. Unfortunately, like the Miniram, the Stealth Ram is not emissions legal.

 

I was considering the stealth ram...but I have an edelbrock STB and I really doubt the SR would allow me to use this......now if it were to work...then I would go with the stealth ram. Need to research this more. As far as the emissions.....i would LIKE to make my car emissions legal....but with the Texas laws...i dont know if i can even if I try. I just got to do a bit more research locally before I decide. Right now im stll prepping the block..taking it to a machine shop on friday...so I have time to look into it.

 

I used to live in Dallas. Some inspection stations don't give a crap about what you have, and some do. Depends on where you go to get your test.

I used to pass the sniffer with no cat, no problem.

The visual inspection is the problem in TX. But, who knows if the guy knows what to look for anyway? Maybe you could put a bunch of emissions crap on the motor and not hook it up and they wouldn't know the difference?