As an owner of one of those V-8 Jags (though not California) I
do know that it (federal emissions certification- including
CARB) can be done. Several of my aquantinces have certified
California cars and many have been done in other places.
I dealt with the CARB guys regularly on professional projects
(TV production vehicles) and had some very interesting
experiences- interesting enough that I now won't do projects for
California customers because of the inconsistent rulings of the
CARB and the dictatorial attitude of the CARB authorities.
As to the CA conversion rules, at least as those of us who do
the Jags understand it, an engine of the same year or newer is
required- complete with all the original emissions hardware.
Does not really matter what it came out of as long as it was the
same year or newer and all emissions specs for the DONOR engine
and drivetrain components are met. The Jag conversion is pretty
straightforward and very common, so I bet at some point somebody
paid the huge fees to CARB to have the V-8 and Jaguar
combination fully tested for compliance with their stupidly
written rules.
In North Carolina, I went through a lengthy state and federal
emissions certification on my 1986 Jaguar that involved several
emissions tests, 2 lengthy visual and mechanical inspections and
a few letters to the comissioner of the state DOT. Ultimately,
my car blew better than 1996 new car standards (passes the cold
start test!) and still made over 300 HP with a 1977 donor block.
It was not fun, or cheap- but now that I know what to do, it
would be easy if I were to do it again. First thing I would do
different: Fuel injection instead of my Carter AFB. I did all
this in leau of just registering my car 7 miles away in South
Carolina (where I own property and have an address) where they
don't do vehicle inspections at all.
I'm planning on doing a V-8 in a BGT in the not too distant
future. My last MGB-GT (1967) was my daily driver off and on for
8 years and over 300,000 miles (2 trannys, 2 engine rebuilds and
1 whole new engine, original rear end, several new wire wheels)
and remains the #1 pick in my list of favorite cars. If I had a
GT with AC, mucho horsepower and a decent synchronized 5-speed,
I would never buy another car.
For those of you doing the emissions dance, a great (and cheap)
book is Haynes Techbook 1667: Automotive Emissions Control, ISBN
1 85010 667 3. It covers all the various systems, how they work
and what they really do. Invaluable knowledge when waging war
with CARB or some other idiotic government agency that is
screwing up the spirit of the EPA's regulations.
Scott Pontius wrote:
> >This seems strange as there are plenty of Jags running around here with
> >Chey V8's and Z cars also with the same. I have seen certification tags
> >on many of these and in fact I know personally of an 84 Jag XJ6 with an
> >88 Chevy 350 that was certified just last year. It looks perfectly stock
--
Michael Stanford
Cicada Effects | 501 Mammoth Oaks Dr.
704.367.0744 | Charlotte, NC 28270
Fax 367.0877 | http://www.cicadafx.com
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