street legal 01 body swap

[88desertranger]

I was wondering exactly how smoging, and registering would work if I were to take a truck body off an 01 truck and put it on an older frame/drivetrain. My goal would be a street legal mud-toy. The engine in the truck now is insufficient for my goal, and I think it would be much easier to take the body off and place it on a more suitable frame/drivetrain, than to do an engine swap on the current truck and try to get around smog. If I place the body on a 75( i think that is current smog excempt year) or older frame/drivetrain. Can i simply register it as a "73 bronco, just as an example" and hence bypass smog, will the creation be street legal, assuming i have the correct turn signals, mud flaps, frame heights etc......

[SpareChangeRacng]

1st off - I would stick w/ 73 just to be safe on smog. Currently 74 is smog exempt, but there is legislation trying to stop the rolling smog laws.
2nd - in order to do it the 100% legal way I believe you have to notify the DMV on all cab swaps, and get them OKed or checked out.
There is the grey 97 or so F-150 cab, on late 60's or early 70's F series frame (or portion of it) that was built by C&D fab (Pretty sure it was them). Anyways that truck is smog legal, and he is registered on here. Maybe he can explain what he did.
Other than that your option would be SB100. I have started a couple threads on this and smog in general in the past. Try a search for "smog" or smogexempt" on here to fins some good info.

[Ramsey_ElWardani]

This is easily done and the answers easy to come by. Without taking the time to type out the whole process, let me suggest the following: Call the CHP Station in your area and find out where the nearest VIN Officer is located (if he is not at that station) and set an appointment to meet him. This is who you will be working with so you want to get to know him and gain his favor. Tell him you OWN and have REGISTERED to you a Truck (I would suggest a 1973 or older model with a ’73 or older engine in it) and that the body is in need of replacement, for whatever reason, and that you OWN and have REGISTERED to you a later model (perhaps with bad engine and drive train!) Truck and you would like to do a “Cab Swap.” He will tell you what to do. The DMV is not the place to ask. It is illegal for you to remove any VIN Plates or numbers. Basically he will remove the VIN Plates off both Trucks and put a new VIN Plate with the VIN Number of the older truck on the new body. Let us know what you find out.

[88desertranger]

K, So, i need to talk with the VIN officer after i buy the donor fram/drivetrain, but before i start doing any of the work? Also can the process be done using a rolling chassis for the donor frame ( do i need to have a body on the donor frame to begin with) And lastly, im probably going to run a different engine than the one that is home to my rolling chassis. You think I would be better off saving the engine swap till after the registration is taken care of, or would i be able to get away with doing it all at once. Im hesitant to call the VIN officer and bug him, since i wont be starting the project for a good 6 months, i want to gather as much info as possible however, because i currently have my eyes open for the donor frame, and dont want to buy a frame, then find out i cant use it due to some technical crap.

[IDRA_CRB]

Follow Ramsey's advice and talk to the VIN officer before you start the project. Many of our offices have quite a back-log for VIN verifications. New construction custom bikes, stolen recoveries, sandrails, out-of-state imports, kit cars, etc, all need verifications.

Plus, you don't want to be well into your project and then find out you can't complete it due to legalities.


Reese

[88desertranger]

thnx a ton everyone for your helpfull advice, ill let you know if io learn anything interesting...