Does anybody else in Tennessee have to go through an emissions test? I know Memphis has been doing this since I was a teenager (don't ask!). I moved from inside the city limits for this and the other obvious reasons, but now there is talk of the EPA mandating emission testing countywide.

I'm wondering if I install a late model V8 in my 54 F100, would it be subject to the engine year standards or 1954 standards? Is there any way of finding this out?

 

It is today's standards that you will be held accountable for. Atleast here in Williamson county, I bet it's a state standard though. I don't have to go thru emissions, but we have to do them here.

 

Normally what happens is that you can't put an older engine and emmissions system in a newer vehicle (I know this from many years in California), but an older truck can have a newer engine. Because of this, I think it will go by the truck itself - not the engine.

At one point in California, there was a requirement for older vehicles to have a doodad added to the upper radiator hose that cut off vacuum advance until the engine reached it's normal operating temperature (So the advance was cut out while the engine was on a choke setting) but it was repealed because it was lobbied that you can't force people to modify an engine system in a way that the engine was not designed for.

We used to call them "GREEN WEENIES" and worse, because they were bright green and stood out from the radiator hoses.

I would run a google search for "TENNESSEE EMISSION STANDARDS" and also a search by your specific county. Shelby - right?

Keep in mind that if you leave something like an Air Injection Reaction pump mounted, or the headers have rails for one - most smog techs will see THAT and it will never even dawn on them that they don't belong in there. They're going to look for "SMOG STUFF" in general, and unless they really know what they're doing - if it isn't connected by the book, they WILL lose their minds over it and try to fail it.

 

I believe they go by the truck yr but I can't be sure.

 

I live in Williamson Co. ,I know all the counties surrounding Nashville have emissions testing. But some don't. I just sold my 78 F-150 that I had for four years. I had to test it. Since 1979 was the first real year of smog pieces across the board i.e - smog pumps,cats,smaller fuel necks,unleaded fuel only in gauges.My 78 always passed with no problem. I had a 400 with Edelbrock intake and Holley carb and duals with no cat. My son's 79 Bronco we had to add a cat to the exhaust and do a lot of adjustment to make it pass. PITA !!! Hope this helps

 

I thought Spring Hill was Maury County, not Williamson?

 

I live in Bethesda,but my zip is Spring Hill.

 

Spring Hill is kinda on both sides. I have a friend that says he lives in Spring Hill in Williamson county for schools.

The thing is that in 54 there were no emissions controls. My 239 Yblock doesn't even have a PCV system. It just vents out the bottom of the engine. I don't know if I put a later model V8 (say a 96 or so 5.0) that I would have to make the 54 pass tests for a 96 model truck or car (whatever the engine might have come from). Most would not be able to tell the difference, but it is very easy to tell anything Ford FE or Windsor, much less a later 4.6 or 5.4 OHC engine from the Yblock.

 

I'm just wanting to say that you have to do it with today's standards in mind. I don't know for sure, but I'm just wanting to say that's what they require. Unless your just totally against bringing it up to par for emissions, I would just go ahead and do it just so you don't have to worry about it.

 

If that is indeed what the law states then I will stay with a Yblock - warts and all. I might look for a newer 272 or 292 - 57 and later. Anybody know of one?

 

Maybe I've stumbled on to something. I got this:

(5) When a motor vehicle is equipped with other than the original engine or when a motor vehicle has
been constructed, modified, customized or altered in such a way so that the model year cannot be
clearly determined, the vehicle shall be classified for purposes of the emission performance test by the
model year of the chassis.

from this webpage (actually a PDF file) at this link:
http://www.tennessee.gov/sos/rules/1...1200-03-29.pdf

If I'm reading this right, if I put another engine other than what came in the 54 originally, then the chassis (which of course is from 1954) would be the determining factor! I'm off to the junk yard!!

 

Sounds like your on to something right there.

 

BINGO!

And there is the key to the surviving hotrod community in California.

Get an old chassis! You can do whatever you want to it. But the VIN number is normally on the cab itself, not the frame.

That has even more possibilities.

You can go an Explorer frame and a very old cab. The VIN follows the cab.

It all depends on where the serial number is stamped.


A 1932 truck?

For a '53, if I'm not mistaken you can run a "ROAD DRAFT TUBE" for crankcase ventilation, and they can't bust you for it. PCV works better though.

 

I think there is supposed to be a data plate on the drivers door sill. Mine is gone. I have been told that the VIN is stamped on the frame somewhere up front. I haven't looked for that.