What mistakes did you make? I've not heard of problems importing the engines by themselves. A whole car can be a problem, but an engine is just parts, not a vehicle.
I know nothing about racing rules, but for the street most people are doing it in vehicles of a year that are not smog controlled, or in states that have very loose smog rules and people just don't say anything about it.Most of you seem to have done your conversions with cars which are registered for street use. I guess this is a separate issue, but how were you able to register the conversion vehicle? Or is there a legal way?
Who shot you down?I got shot down on bringing the engines in for installation in a GTV.
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"Who is the EPA guy in charge of racing? I never heard of anything like that. You can build a car to race in any club, it doesn't have to be SCCA regulated. Is this guy part of the government or SCCA?"
The gentleman in charge of exclusions for race cars and engines is John LaCroix. This is his address and telephone number:
John LaCroix
USEPA
Compliance & Innovative Strategies Division
Tel: 734-214-4463
Fax: 734-214-4869
(See attached file: competition engine request ltr..doc)
The first thing you need to know is to NOT MENTION TRACK CARS. The letter excluding you from EPA regulations is based on you competing in a recognized series of races. The organizing groups range from NASCAR to SCCA. I forgot to ask about the various Vintage Racing organizations. You have to produce a number of pieces of evidence that you will be competing in a "real" racing organization. Pictures of the race car from 4 different angles, racing schedule, and your competition license are among the things he will want to be included with your letter requesting an exclusion. I chose SCCA because I raced in SCCA for many years. My last car, a rebodied Lotus 23 with a GTA Jr engine is pictured in my avitar.
I wish I had been more diligent in my research and had never followed a broker's advice to investigate the EPA regulations. However, a nasty divorce and health issues were foremost in my life. I can see now that Customs isn't really interested in EPA regulations with respect to importing engines.
Stefano,I wonder where we can find any of the new rules. I also wonder if it would refer to a whole engine. We may need to analyze for loopholes. Such as if the seller overseas unbolts the head and removes it, would we be talking about not an engine, but more parts? I'm just brainstorming here and applying the same kind of reasoning for whole cars and engines. It may even have to be separate shipments of heads and blocks if the new rules are such.
Max,Hello again,
Maybe I missed it on the post but what year is your car?
good luck, max
I may have mis-spoken; I didn't mean to imply that the rules have been changed, rather that any tolerance in the process is being purposefully squeezed out.Joe says something about customs changing in 2007? If Max did what he says above, then things haven't changed.