Knuckle Dragger
Rascal *****
Go back through and re-read my post. You missed most of it in your fever to reply, I never posted ANYTHING about shop installed swaps or parts. I referenced that the shop owners must pay for the equipment to test. Reading IS fundamental. Secondly, I did smog tests and repairs in California for 15+ years as well as working for the California Bureau of Automotive Repair for a short time before I left for Arizona. Including the time frame you state expertise because you watched tests being performed. I've personally done three smog legal EFI swaps in California over the 30 years I lived there. Everything I have said is from personal experience within the industry, hands on stuff, not what I read on the internet. I stand by everything I posted.I grew up in California. You are wrong on almost everything you just posted. When I was getting smog checks in LA county back in the 90's and 2000's they would connect an OBD1 vehicle to the computer and check for codes.
Shop owners are definitely responsible if they install anything that isn't an OE replacement for what is in there. Putting a 6.0 in there without going through the proper inspections and approvals will get them a $20,000 fine and possible impounding/destruction of the vehicle if the EPA or CARB finds out. CARB absolutely has a book of emissions categories and the referee will tell him exactly what to do.
Here's a great write up by someone that has actually gone through it... twice. Including swapping a 6.0 into a V2500 squarebody suburban.
https://www.gmsquarebody.com/threads/ca-legal-ls-swap.33893/#post-686228
And you realize CARB and the EPA don't do the enforcement of emissions laws in California, right? It's the Bureau of Automotive repair and the states attorneys. I'm not sure where you pulled impounding the vehicle from but that's not the case. They would simply not let you register it. They cannot seize the vehicle for illegal emissions modifications. The $20k fine you posted must be some arbitrary figure you pulled out of,.... well you know. Fines are based on restitution and cost of investigation for the repair shop. They don't fine the car owner. The owner would only be responsible to bring it back into compliance before being able to drive the vehicle on the street. And no, there still no book on legal or not legal for swaps no mater how many time you insist there is one. I believe you are confused with the manual (not published by the state or CARB) that lists required equipment on make and model. There is no guide for swap laws. Everything must comply with the make and model you are basing the swap on. You know just enough to look silly to folks that really do know.
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