Adam,
California Air Resource Board (CARB) passed regulations
some years back about the "import engines" as they finally
caught on the Japan Spec motor's were not the same as
California Spec emission controlled motors.
So when the importers got the engines in, they have to
pull the manifolds off and sell them off for scrap or
whatever.
Solutions: Buy the engine from an importer out of
California! "For racing only" is usually required on some
of the motor's. Some places will NOT ship to California
as they have gotten dinged! Solution... next time
you are in Portland, Oregon... Hmm, anyone know of
any "importers" in Reno, NV?
Up until '93 (?) I was still buying complete L18's
with the flat dome SU's for $400 from one of the places
in Hayward. Usually I would drive there and "inspect"
about three of four engines by simply removing the oil
cap to look at the valve train. All were low mileage
engines, but some had regular oil changes... some did
not.
Sad thing is some of those import engines run much
cleaner than the original carb'd engine they replace.
When I lived in Oregon they had a more open policy
about "sniff test only". They didn't inspect what was
under the hood, only the tail pipe emission limits.
Alas, their limits were tighter than the original
requirements! Still I'm a firm believer in keeping
the cars well tuned to reduce the emissions.
Cheers,
Tom Walter
Austin, TX
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