Legality of Engine Swaps in Washington

[xntsofknhrdcorx]

Hey guys, so I was reading on here about different swap options and came across one from a guy down in cali who was talking about legality of swapping the engine, and was saying it was pretty much illegal to do any swap in that state. I was just curious if anyone knew, is it legal in WA state to swap out the engine in a 240 to say an RB25DET or RB20DET(as these are what I think I might want)?

[dct223]

good luck with those..

iirc for CA... it CAN be legal to do a swap.. as long as its a engine that is from the same year or newer that is in a US production car. You also need to have with it all emissions stuff and then you go to a state ref.. he inspects the work, smogs if it passes its good to go... only thing is i believe that you will then have to smog your car each year instead of every 2 years..

this is what someone told me..

and no.. dont even try doing this with SR's in CA...

[andrewmp6]

basicly no engine swap is legal but there ways around passing smog and things

[speedjay]

it is illegal in WA. but no cop is going to know the difference between a ka and sr or rb. so if you can pass emissions, youll be ok. Also they dont usually do a visual inspection when you go to pass emissions so its not a big deal.

[Andrew Bohan]

register it in a county with no emissions testing. i lived in island and kittitas counties and never had to test anything.

hell, i even took my truck to an exhaust shop in ellensburg and the guy was tellin me all about how he wanted to throw away the cats and have exhaust cut outs and stuff.

even mentioning that kind of shit in california would have gotten that guy fined, thrown in jail, license revoked, and hit on the head with a frying pan...

so basically, no one gives a shit about illegal engine and exhaust outside of the bigger cities.

[fliprayzin240sx]

SR20DET swap or RB swap is basically FEDERALLY Illegal since none of these were ever DOT or NHTSA approved. No car sold in the US ever came with these engines.