> TN currently has no emissions testing or safety inspections...never has.
>
> Questions:
>
> 1--My 58 Chevy Suburban is currently set up for a late base model crate 350
>(no vehicle
> year attached to it per se) retro'd to look like the original 283 using all
>vintage
> hardware. Some states say that you get tested based on the vehicle year
>(which I would
> guess for 58 wouldn't have much concern); some say that you get tested based
>on the
> engine year if you have a replacement engine. This is my primary concern
>now. Any
> Comments? Will I need to ditch my 350 (long term) and go looking for an
>original engine
> (I have my original 283 but the block is in rough shape).
Since the *federal* Clean Air Act only applies to 1968 (?)
and newer vehicles, the oletrucks should be completely ignored.
If you put a newer engine in a vehicle that is subject to
the Clean Air Act, then you may be required to have the
vehicle meet the specs for the newer engine (although I've
never heard of this actually happening in real life).
> 3--How do the rules work about spending money to repair a noncompliant
>vehicle and
> getting a waiver after the required limit for that has been reached?
This is up to the state to figure out. If TN is now looking
at what to do, I suggest you create several more hours each
day to get involved (or find someone in the state who has
the time and ability) to try to get the laws written in a
sensible way.
In AZ the waiver laws keep changing, used to be you could
get a waiver if your car flunked twice, now you have to
spend $$$ (threshold depends on year of car, etc) and you
can only get 1 or two in the life of the vehicle.
> 4--What are all the issues that I'm not even thinking about yet?
Like the most basic one...that emissions testing programs
don't result in a measurable reduction in air pollution!
> 5--Any experience on politically impacting all this stuff...it's a given that
> it will
> be implemented but I am assuming that we can somewhat affect how it gets
>implemented as
> most states seem to have collector vehicle exemptions...but this usually
>affects how
> much you can drive it. Comments?
Follow the money :)
> TN doesn't have to have all this in place for a few years, but they are
>planning to get
> started and my Suburban won't even be on the road until about the time that
>all this
> comes into play so I might as well design my restoration/restification around
>all this
> stuff.
If the hobbyists in the state can get a rolling 25 year
cutoff for testing, life would be great. This is a
challenge, because there are strong economic and political
forces that want to have useless testing of as many vehicles
as possible.
If you can actually find reasonable people involved in the
legislative process, ask them simple questions, like: "If
all the cars *newer* than 1979 were taken off the road, how
many cars would be left? Do you *really* think that these
older cars that you hardly ever see are causing measurable
air pollution?"
--
Jim
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