smog legality in california

hello all,

i jsut have a question about smog legality with all the swaps in california

someone told me that in order to make a cali legal swap the motor had to be offered in the vehicle, now i know there are civics with H22s in them and CRX's with b18 vtec motors in them so i am confused seeing as the CRX wasnt available with the b18 and civics arent avail with the H22 so if any one could clarify this for me i would much appreciat it

i want to do a engine swap in my nissan pickup and im buckshotting and asking everywhere

thanks

The rule for CA and many other states (might even be federal) is that the engine must be the year of the car or newer. Also if you plan on legalizing a swap here's th BS they put me through:
-US ECU for that engine (JDMs won't pass the B.A.R. inspection)
-3 biscuit high-flow (meant for like a v6 or v8, really helps the emissions on a b16) OR a stock cat(very restrictive but lowers smog even lower than the 3 bisc. high-flow)
-Working O2 sensor
-Also make sure your exhaust dbs are under the limit for the state requirements
If your doing it for racing or have a buddy that can give you a passed smog certificate with your vehicle info on it than you won't need to do any of the legalization crap like I did. However a benifit of getting it legalized is that once you pass the inspection they (B.A.R.) print out a label that has all the engine #s and other info on it so cops won't ask if the motor is hot(BAD personal experience before I went through the process). Hope this helps.