to draw a line in sand in regards to catalytic converters and allow postings on engine swaps that would fall under the same Federal Emission laws that removing a converter would.
your right. no arguement from me.
but hold the bar high regardless and struggle to meet the goal...(or pretend to struggle to meet the goal
)
at least if i am understanding you correctly.
Federal law says that the swap must meet one of two requirements.
It must
A) match a certified configuration of the same or newer chassis. This means that if I rip out my 2.9 and replace it with a 4.0 (which I am going to do) I am ok under Federal law. The same with my current setup. I have an 89 engine, 88 computer an 88-92 cat in my 87 truck. This meets Federal requirements (I matched a newer model year to the letter), but not the requirements for my state as the use of completely 88+ parts deletes the EGR system (the parts must be present and appear like they could function). Under this rule the people who swap carbed V8 engines into their post 87 trucks are in violation because 87 was the last year a carb was used on any Ranger engine.
or
B) It must be proven that the emissions of the vehicle have not been adversely affected. The statute indicates that this would require a proper test of the swapped vehicle, however there are ways to approximate this.
For example, the Explorer was still roughly the same chassis as the Ranger. There was some divergence over the years, but they are still the same weight class, still both considered "light duty trucks" by their manufacturer. So swapping the 5.0 out of a 98 Explorer into you 92 Ranger and keeping everything as it would have been in the Explorer could be argued to meet this requirement without performing an actual test.
On the other hand, cutting out the cat is cutting out the cat and can only have one effect on emissions.
I'm currently building a 65 Mustang for my mom. Am I required to have cats? Not by a long shot. They weren't even put into use until 10 years after the car was built. Am I gonna use them when I build the exhaust? You bet.
its illegal by federal standards to put a v8 in a ranger
PERIOD.
just that farggin simple. the chassis was never oem offered with a v8. theres some fannagling post v8 explorer....but its a non issue for many reasons.
yet we all do it and many these days are emission compliant regardless...
to even have a forum discussing such lawbreaking is just rude. almost as evil as owning a gun. what kind of douchebag owns a gun??
hows that for hypocrisy?
but....if you are an american in america there are several workarounds.
for the sake of argument its home build personal use hotrod type of titling that gets you by most issues and back to basic dot ruling. as in you are not manufacturing for profit to the general public...you are manufacturing for personal use.
....thats not the proper term and every state has its own rules but any smart hotrodder skates through that shit with ease.
getting insurance on custom titled rigs has its own issues though. often its $$$$
but, thats an ever dwindling option. joining sema, brc, etc is something you need to do if you like freedom....theres no end to the fawktards that want to take it all away.