Back Registering Truck w/ DMV

[LTZ C20]

Ok, I have a 79' Chevy Cheyenne C20 standard cab long bed. It has a SB350. I recently rebuilt the entire top end, a complete valve job. I also put on a new Edelbrock Performer intake to go with the Edelbrock Performer carb already there. Now being that the truck is a 79', I have smog to deal with. So the intake and carb are smog legal and the rest of the engine is stock. My question is this. Has anyone ever attempted to, succeed in, or heard of someone back registering a 76' and after truck to say 75' or 74 or what not to get rid of all smog equipment. If so, did it work? Has DMV found out and if they did what happened? And if it is really possible and I'm not going to get caught,  HOW THE HECK DO I DO IT?! Thanks ya'll.

[bake74]

     The only way to do it would be illegal.  You will have to swap vins.  You have to get a pre 76 truck already in comp. At DMV. ( one like yours, model ) and put that vin on your truck, then take your truck info and put it on the other one and either scrap it, call pick - pull, or non op it so there is a record, I would scrap personally, they won't check the frame vin.
      Now you have to be carefull about the future with the frame on your truck, it will have the partial vin from your original vin.
      If it was me, and you want to be legal, find a 75 or later truck same model as yors, use the frame and vin off the 75 or older truck and switch everything, now you have a pre 75 truck and can not get into trouble down the road.

[LTZ C20]

That is a lot of work. I see you have to have a bit of time and money. The last sentence though is very helpful. Unfortunately I don't have the ability to do that right now. Thanks for that info though, very helpful. I guess that's a project for later years. Maybe when I have to truck apart for paint in a year or so more.

[zieg85]

Why not install the equipment needed and have it pass the smog test?

[LTZ C20]

It's all smog equipment and it passed last time. I just bought a 79 when I should have bought a 74. I HATE SMOG!

[zieg85]

It's all smog equipment and it passed last time. I just bought a 79 when I should have bought a 74. I HATE SMOG!

I hate it as well.  5 counties in Indiana test... I am 1 mile north of a county that doesn't but I have to deal with it on all of mine.  Luckily I have 1 that is grandfathered in, back then you could register it as 10,000 GVW and pay extra for the plate but they won't allow that any longer for new registrations.  I am afraid it is going to get worse before it gets better...  They are trying to get our "big polluters" off the road...  We can get a wavier for a show vehicle but have to carry a special insurance policy stating limited use.  It just isn't fair...

[LTZ C20]

I completely agree. They just threw smog regulations on 95 (<-- I think) and after diesels here too. Couple of my friends are pissed.

[jdl71]

VIN is what identifies what year your truck is and as such that's the only way to get a different year "truck".

This really makes me glad to live in MO where we don't have to deal with most of this. But back to your question, you're really needing it to pass the smog sniffer and then go to DMV, correct? Or does it just need a typical MVI to verify all the components are there? Sorry, I'm not familiar with how DMV in Cali works, here we get our vehicles inspected(brakes,lights,etc) and then take the slip showing it passed to the DMV for registration. If smog does apply (which in a few cases here it does) it's only a visual check to see that the components are there and appear to be functional. A lot of that is up to the individual inspection station as well I've found and most know where to go when they have a "questionable" automobile that needs to pass.

Think it was last month's Four Wheel Off Road had an article about getting a '79 Ford to pass California smog and what a PITA it was to find all the parts to make it work since a lot are no longer being made.

[LTZ C20]

What I was trying to figure out was what I needed to do to make DMV think that my truck was a 74' even though it's really a 79' It's called back registery. You make the vehicle appear on paper to be older than it really is. Here in Cali, if it's a 75' or before, you don't have to have smog. I was thinking about making it appear to be a 74 so I can get rid of my smog equipment and start with my new engine.

[bake74]

It's all smog equipment and it passed last time. I just bought a 79 when I should have bought a 74. I HATE SMOG!

     That is why I have a 74.  I bought a 77 for a parts truck and looking at a 79 when I get back into town for parts only also.

[velojym]

I wonder how many people have been driven into buying older, "dirtier" trucks... as an unintended consequence of these laws.
Having lived in "smog" states as well as "non-smog"... I see very little difference in the vehicles on the road or their relative exhaust issues.
In fact, they created quite an underground pencil-whip inspection industry in Texas.