a few questions about the process, i have a complete (engine/wiring/ecm) donor car, what else would i need from that car? and will it pass smog in california since its going back 3 years?

 

"Section 3362.1 of the California Code of Regulations forbids any reduction or degradation of a
vehicle's emission control system.
Any installed engine must maintain all original emission control equipment.
The emission equipment must be for the vehicle's model year or newer.
Thus swapping an older engine into a new car will not result in the emission standards of the engine applying,
the old engine will have to comply with the vehicle model year's standards.

 

so in other words, it wont pass smog, and ill have to find someone to do a bogus test?

 

That is not necessarily the case. As long as the engine has all the emissions equipment for the 1991 car, then from what I am reading, you would at least pass the visual.

No way of knowing if it would pass the sniffer until it is hooked up. It will have to pass standards for 1991, not 1988.

 

i was told that i will need to go to a "smog referee" every time since the engine is smog legal but wont match up when they hook the computer up to the vehicle

 

To pass, without excuses, bs etc..


You need to have a complete setup from the same year or newer as your car.

Being that a lot of things that were used, were similar, you could possibly get away with:

Using that engine and manifold, make sure the cam specs are the same as the 91, I dont remember offhand and dont care to do the leg work looking right now.

Get a 90-92 harness, and the correct 91 or 92 chip for the ECM, as well as the ecm.

Make sure you've got the right manifolds that would have come with the engine youre using as well as cats, y pipe etc, or headers that were carb approved for the engine you are making it out to be.

 

i think i have the solution, my buddy is selling me a complete 91 tpi engine with harness ecm and wiring. will it be plug and play? or would i need to change anything?