Legality of the SR20DET

[Muzzy]

does texas frown on the SR swap or do they not care...i know there are no emissions controls here....wut to do wut to do...:confused: :mad: :confused:

[240 2NR]

Welcome to the forum.

This should really be a cut and paste response.

The SR is not legal in any state. That said you have to acess your risk. If you are sure there are no inspections, then how will you be found out? Unless you really pi$$ off the cop who pulls you over, it's unlikely. Plenty of people have gotten by without hassle, but you only need one person to get busted to prove it's not foolproof, and it has happened.

I suggest you do a search. I know it's not more than a page old in the chat section right now. The topic has come up often. I've given you the short of it, if you need anymore info, I suggest a search here or at freshalloy.

[Muzzy]

im worried about gettin busted and if i did get busted wouldnt the motor get takin fom me or the whole car???

idk it jus cost way too much to turbo the KA, well....not the way i want to do it. im not gonna run stock internals or fuel system if i do it

[elevator]

How are they illegal if you have the appropriate CAT? I intend to bring several back with me. I may have to do swaps at inspection time.

[Jeff240sx]

The catalytic convertor is the least of the problems. It's not tested here. If you pay for the testing and getting it certified (about $5k plus a couple motors), then you could have one.
And doing swaps during instpections is just stupid. I'm not even gonna comment on that.
-Jeff
Edit: Muzzy. They will take your car from you. Sometimes they crush the car, other times they make you fix it, and they take the engine.

[elevator]

Originally posted by Jeff240sx
And doing swaps during instpections is just stupid. I'm not even gonna comment on that.
-Jeff

Why not!?! It isn't that big of a task! I know several people here who have spare engines just for inspectiontime. Pop out... one pop in the other. Get the JCI done....Then switch them back. No biggie!

[Muzzy]

Damn it!!

:mad: maybe i should jus make a hot N/A motor...idk damnit

[Muzzy]

well i jus dont want no legal problems or my **** takin from me....and im not from texas and lazy...i jus moved here

[some guy]

If you're worrying about it, don't do the swap. Many people that did the swap are either they have hook-up, or they register their car in a no smog check area. If you don't have hook-up, or your area have emmsion check, don't do it.

[240racer]

I think a good question to be asked is, can you tell the difference if a 240 has a sr20 in it or not? if not then the cop won't know either. Plus even if he did know, you could try to say you didn't know it was an illegal car or something stupid like that.
The first rule in not getting pulled over, don't do anything stupid with it. Especially don't do anything stupid with it at night. If you are racing some Honda with NOS and you get pulled over, then you'll probably get checked for illegal equipment. The goal is to not give the officer a reason to check under the hood, I have been pulled over more then 30 times and never ever had the cop check under the hood. Also, I have never seen or heard of any of my friends have the cop check under the hood. However if you are showing obvious signs of illegal mods, don't be surprised. F&F have given cops knowledge that there are cars on the raod with illegal stuff, especailly riced out imports. they are watching for NOS, turbos, no exhaust etc. Oh speaking of exhaust, don't even think of running loud exhaust or whatever, that is something they can hear a mile away and love to track down. Also, it's something that the neighbors will complain about and then the cops will come to your house and talk to you, which give them a good oppurtunity too look under the hood.

Since I wrote all of this impromtu I'm going to have to say that it's just common sense. It doesn't even surprise me a little that some kid who wants a SR is scared that he can't use enough judgement to keep from getting it taken away. It says alot for the maturity of the SR clientele.

[240racer]

Originally posted by Muzzy
well i jus dont want no legal problems or my **** takin from me....and im not from texas and lazy...i jus moved here

oh yeah and it doesn't surprise anybody that you are lazy, you aren't even willing to use the mouse and open another window and start looking for stuff on your state. You don't need to tell us you are lazy like it's something the rest of us can't obtain.

[DuffMan]

I don't think they will take your car, just revoke your registration at worst.

Maybe they would take your car in California but those people are freaking nazis.

In states without a visual inspection (the vast majority) owning an SR is illegal like rolling a stop sign is illegal.

With an S14 though, they might want to check the obd which could run into some problems.

[Muzzy]

kid or not i dont think everyone has 2500 to be throwin around on a chance and if u do im pretty sure u jus wont say "oh well, its only 2500"

[Nerfdude]

unfortunately almost all the good points have been taken... but i'll say my piece anyway.
wait until after your inspection. then swap. that way you've got the engine for two years, provided you don't get pulled over by the president of nissan, who points out that your engine is illegal, deems your car off-road only, and impounds it. luckily, THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN. unless you rice out your extrerior, the cop won't have you pop your hood. even if you do, he probably won't. and if he DOES, there's a 99% chance he won't be able to tell it's an illegal engine.
NEXT. emissions does not show that you have an illegal foreign engine. it shows that your car can pass emissions. the sr20 will pass emissions, provided you run it lean and maybe a bottle of that "emissions-pass" stuff. the problem comes in during inspection. when they inspect your car, they make sure the numbers on the chassis and the block match up. if you have an SR swap, they won't. then they check to see if it's the right engine for the car. if it's an SR, it won't be. so what you need is to find an inspector you either know or can bribe. my mechanic does inspections, and i've known him for about 5 years- he'll make sure it passes when i swap.
basically, so long as you're not driving in a manner that would have your car impounded anyway, you'll be fine.

[elevator]

Originally posted by Nerfdude
unfortunately almost all the good points have been taken... but i'll say my piece anyway.
wait until after your inspection. then swap. that way you've got the engine for two years, provided you don't get pulled over by the president of nissan, who points out that your engine is illegal, deems your car off-road only, and impounds it. luckily, THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN. unless you rice out your extrerior, the cop won't have you pop your hood. even if you do, he probably won't. and if he DOES, there's a 99% chance he won't be able to tell it's an illegal engine.
NEXT. emissions does not show that you have an illegal foreign engine. it shows that your car can pass emissions. the sr20 will pass emissions, provided you run it lean and maybe a bottle of that "emissions-pass" stuff. the problem comes in during inspection. when they inspect your car, they make sure the numbers on the chassis and the block match up. if you have an SR swap, they won't. then they check to see if it's the right engine for the car. if it's an SR, it won't be. so what you need is to find an inspector you either know or can bribe. my mechanic does inspections, and i've known him for about 5 years- he'll make sure it passes when i swap.
basically, so long as you're not driving in a manner that would have your car impounded anyway, you'll be fine.

WELL put! Very few cops will know tyhe difference anyway. On top of that some states could care less. Some states don't even have inspections.

[Travis240]

When I was lookin' to do an SR swap, I called the Oregon DEQ and the guy their said something like " in a '90 or older car you can run whatever the hell you want as long as it will pass emissions." Cool Huh?

[elevator]

Originally posted by Travis240
When I was lookin' to do an SR swap, I called the Oregon DEQ and the guy their said something like " in a '90 or older car you can run whatever the hell you want as long as it will pass emissions." Cool Huh?
As long as you're not in a gestapo state like California you shouldn't have too much trouble. Where I have lived I don't think it would ever be much of a problem.

[mixedwell]

hold up. im from california and to be honest my state is the heart and soul of the US import street life. ok ok, some of you guys form other states might not think so but its true. seriously. we have the most b16 swaps, h22 swaps, f20 swaps, and SR20 swaps. im just not sure about the CA18 swaps. but as strict as california is, most of us who operate our cars on the street arent stupid. of course we have ways of getting around. our cops arent stupid either, as long as you're driving normal, you'll be ok. but im just not too sure what a cop does if he hears your blow off valve. im sure the WRX guys are having a harder time than any of us.

ok thats it. HOlla

mixedwell ;)

just remember i love you all...