# Street Legal SR20DET - No really!



## Guest (Mar 11, 2003)

OK... Now just put the flamethrower down and hear me out first.

Motorex has made the ENTIRE Skyline street legal. We're talking bumpers, crash ratings and everything! I'm not sure, but I don't think they even had to detune the Skylines first.

So doesn't it seem logical that there MUST be a way of getting an SR20DET approved? I'm thinking somewhere along the lines of calling it a kit car or something. There are all sorts of loopholes out there and I'm almost certain one of them can be exploited to make the SR20DET legal on the street.

I wrote to Motorex today to ask them if they would legalize an SR20 for me. I made sure to mention that I wasn't some free loader looking to get a free ride off of their hard work to legalize the Skyline.

Anyway, the point to this post was to ask if any of you guys out there have found any loophole such as this. There seem to be a fair number of level headed and intelligent people around this board and I can't believe all of you are pulling out your SR20's every two years for SMOG.

Let's see where this can go. We may end up doing something very positive for the community. Thanks for reading, and if you still feel the need, flame away; I'll try not to be too offended.

-Alan


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

do a search.... no really!

 

this question and many others are addressed in previous posts...


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## Guest (Mar 11, 2003)

I've been searching and reading WAY too much for the past week or so ) Thank you very much...

I don't think you really thought about the question I was asking though.

I did NOT ask if I can get it to pass SMOG legally (visually or sniffer)

What I asked was if anyone out there has ever looked into MAKING the SR20 street legal the same way the guys at Motorex took a totally 100% street illegal car (the Skyline) and managed to make a living selling them in the US.

You can now buy a Skyline from Motorex and take it into a SMOG referee with all the proper paperwork and he can't say a damn thing.

Has anyone out there researched the process of getting the engine legalized? This is what Im asking...

Thanks for your response none the less James.

-Alan


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

No really, search! it has been addressed and I'm not talking about sneaking pass smog officials.

but to answer your question, they will not make an 'engine' street legal. they have laws for that. they can only make a car street legal. just like if you have a skyline it can be legalized but you can't take a skyline engine and put it into a 240 and expect the same status.


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

here's an engine swap, not a SR20DET but all the same:

here


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## Guest (Mar 11, 2003)

OK OK you win, kinda.  I ran several searches (I promise!) and either came up with no hits or no info regarding what I was trying to do. I guess I must be using the wrong terms. I tried "SR20DET" and "legalize" together. I figure'd that was broad enough to bring up a few.

So what you're saying is that I can't legalize an engine, but I could import an older Silvia in its entirity and get that legalized. I'm not trying to be argumentative or anything, but do you have any kind of back up for that? I read over the website you linked me to, and I didn't see any information about trying to legalize an engine rather than a car. I've done a swap before (shhh don't tell anyone it was a Honda) and went through the process with the SMOG Refs, so I'm familiar with that. 

Anyway... If you (James) could point me to the terms I should be searching, I'd be appreciative. I really tried to be sure I wasn't posting an annoying question. Thanks for the info so far, and anyone else should feel free to jump in if they have information as well.

-Alan who really is starting to wonder how hard it would be to swap between the two damned engines every couple years...


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## zeno (Sep 17, 2002)

Is this a CA thing? A sr20det is completely legal in CO.


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

well for CA there's a lot of laws about engine swaps... 

i did a google search for 'law engine swap' and combinations w/ sr20det in it... I don't know about your local laws so I don't know if it's legal for you.

add:

yeah when you say street legal I assume you mean like 50 state legal incl CA... some states allow you to swap an engine in more readily than ours. so it wouldn't matter. but to be 50 state legal you're going to have a harder time. 

I don't know about getting a silvia street legal here with the engine in it... I think Motorex had to spend a lot of cash to pass all the government testing...


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## Guest (Mar 12, 2003)

Now here's another thought...

Registering the car in Oregon or Nevada would be probably be pretty damn easy. Espcecially if you can and find a SMOG shop who doesn't know imports too well. The only issue is that I believe you need to have legal residency in one of those states to register there.

I've also heard of counties in California, out in the boonies where the test is far more relaxed. I think I have to look into something up in Eureka... maybe I can find a way to get this done semi-legal like.

-Alan

I REALLY don't want to swap out the engine every two years...


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

Xero said:


> *
> I REALLY don't want to swap out the engine every two years... *


yeah that's why I went with turboing my GA... I can take the two days to take out the turbo every two years! 

yeah I've "heard" of ppl being able to pass their cars in CA through a hookup... but like two months ago a local news station broke a story about that and they had video of a mechanic letting illegal engine work slide... don't know how much that changed things but it was pretty hard for me to pass this last time.


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## JustMe (Jan 24, 2003)

The funny thing about all this is if you actually run a tail pipe on a well tuned DET with the proper smog equip. swapped over I bet it would pass. It sucks that someone, somewhere decided that if it's turbo and didn't come that way it must be bad so we won't allow it.


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

JustMe said:


> *The funny thing about all this is if you actually run a tail pipe on a well tuned DET with the proper smog equip. swapped over I bet it would pass. It sucks that someone, somewhere decided that if it's turbo and didn't come that way it must be bad so we won't allow it. *


Amen brother! After I get this turbo on I'm almost tempted to bring it to get tested, not for smog but just to see how I'd do on an actual smog test...


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