How are the early 90s aluminum corvette heads as a swap on a TBI 350? Are they smog legal in CA? Contemplating these as a low cost head swap possibility

 

The vette heads would be a decent choice for a stock engine. They have small intake runners designed to match the tpi system so they dont really seem to flow all that great but the velocity should be good. They also have smaller chambers (mostly to compensate for the increased rate of heat transfer) and are aluminum so theyll run at a more even temp. The heads have the old pre-86 intake bolt pattern so youll need to get a pre-86 style intake or do some grinding if you want to use them. Id also paint the heads to match the rest of the engine to avoid any conflict with the smog inspector.

 

Your gonna need to plumb your exhaust gases from your headers to your intake manifold to keep your EGR functioning.
You can use this http://www.sdpc2000.com/catalog/1460...-Baseplate.htm
to do it.

Oh yeah, and NO 350 TBI is legal in an F-body. You would have to swap to a TPI, or SUper Ram to remain legal.

 

Luckily, cast iron is opaque so the inspector would have no way of knowing, short of going through great pains to check the casting #s. 350 and 305 are essintially the same motors, anyway so with the proper smog equipemnt I dont see any reason that it shouldnt blow good emmisions to make the inspectors happy.

 

And thats not necessarily true in some states as well. I know here in my area they could care less if you added an extra 45 cubes, as long as it passes emmisions...

*edit* There are also some forms you can fill out to let them know you swaped your engine, ask SchwarzCamaroRS...

Bruce (90RS305)

 

Bah engine swaps a legal at lest in CA. The swap must not have worse emissions than the motor it came with. the motor must be the same year or newer and if is a car needs to have a car motor. You must retain all the smog stuff from the motor you put in the car. Take it to a Referee station and if it passes they put a Engine Identifcation tag in the door jamb. You can go to any Automotive repair bureau and get a smog check inspection manual. look under State Government Offices on the internet or your phone book.

 

I did it... I have paperwork that says its legal. I had it refereed and smogged. my registration and smog information says 1991 Camaro RS 350cid TBI... you just have to do it right... keep the motor, smog and injection all the same or newer model year... if it was possible to TBI an LS7 as long as you used the LS7 smog equipment im sure you could find a way to make it legal...

 

THAT on the other hand, is illegal and you WONT pass smog... you must use ORIGINAL smog equipment, hence the reason you cant use Vortec heads on a tbi thirdgen in cali because we use Internally plumbed EGR. You can make it pass emissions, but as far as the visual inspection goes.. Nuh Uh... youll be failed...

 

and one last thing... the vette heads are good, but to remain smog legal, 083's are a good choice... they have internal EGR, they did come on thirdgens originally and with minor work they can be turned into some pretty good flowing heads..

 

...

 

LOL...how many times have you had your car smogged in Cali?

Yes, technically it is illegal...however, if you look up Kevin91Z, and 1990TransAmGTA, and BrandenCali, all live here in SoCal, all 3 run vortecs with that setup from sdpc, and all have passed smog, including the visual.

Im sure now i will get 20 more posters from Arizona, Texas, Iowa, Idaho, Nevada, Alabama, etc. about what we have to do in Cali to make our cars legal, and what forms to fill out, what we get away with etc.

 

bastards... they didnt get the hard-asses in north san diego county then... before i bought my 350 i asked the ref station if i could do the vortec swap and they said no way jose...

 

Of course you dont ask them anything, u just pull up and let them do their work, and leave.
Of course its not legal...even adjusting your base timing is illegal.
I guess its just a matter of knowing what they look for, and one thing they dont look for is those tubes.