Emmissions laws

I bug you guys to much :grinyes: but on to the topic. My family owns a 1972 Mustang you know the rest. My parents plan to move to Arizona and people are telling me that any car not before 1965 needs emmissions equipment. My dad told me that some where in the govermental system there is something saying any car before 1973 doesn't need the equipment. I want to know if this is true and even if it's possible to fit an engine that old with equipment.

10 seconds of google searching:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0411tags0411.html

15+ year old cars that are registered as "collector" cars, don't have to do emissions inspection.

and here's what AZ DMV website says:

http://www.dmv.org/az-arizona/smog-check.php

all cars, 67 and newer, need to pass emissions inspection (in the counties that do emissions testing, mind you)

I went through their "brochure" trying to find the actual test procedure to see if there's a under-hood inspection, and I have to say that is one of the most horribly written bureacratic mumbo-jumbo I've ever seen! (and I'm an emissions technician in WA!)

But I did find another AZ gov site that offered better info:
http://www.azdeq.gov/environ/air/vei/index.html

here's a quote:


Tampering: In addition to one of the above tests, a vehicle may undergo a visual inspection to determine the presence of certain emission control components as installed by the manufacturer. Inspection includes catalytic converter, operational air pump, positive crankcase ventilation system and evaporative control system. These inspections coupled with the evaporative system integrity (pressure) test constitute the tampering inspection.

Basically, they only care about the cat, air pumps, PCV, EVAP systems.

In 73, your dads mustang had almost none of that stock. I bet it won't be a problem.

I would simply take the car to AZ, have it inspected, see if they have any issues, and worry about it when you get there. But I have a feeling, its like it is here in WA. You read the inspection list and start stressing about this stuff. Then you actually get down there and some 16 y/o snot nosed kid "inspects" your car, and all he does is look under the car to make sure there's an exhaust system present, then he signs off the car.

Its nothing like CA inspections.....I can assure you that!

In short, I wouldn't worry about it

Federally, you don't. But the law defaults to the most strict of the two. So, you fall under the greater restriction, which in this case is the state.

Federally, you don't. But the law defaults to the most strict of the two. So, you fall under the greater restriction, which in this case is the state.

technically, federal EPA laws make it illegal to modify or remove any emissions item (and the definition of "emissions item" is quite extensive) on any vehicle. The fines on the books are quite high actually, but its never enforced, or rarely, anyway.

Since its never enforced, few know about it

I should clarify.....the inspection that will be used in AZ isn't looking for UPDATED emission items, only that the existing emission items that came with the car when it was bought off the show room floor are present. That is ALWAYS the case (except for "home-built" cars or gray market cars, but thats a whole nother subject)

All emission items are grandfathered in. IE, the emission standards the year the car was made, is the only standards you need to satisfy. There is a LOT more involved of course, when discussing this, due to the nature of what is considered a modification, but 99.9% of the time, is immaterial

unclebob, dead on.