My 30 year old son bought one of these a few months ago. The main reason he bought it was it was by far the lowest mileage manual trans Cooper S around and much cheaper than any other similar year Mini - the PO did comment that he had trouble selling it because nobody realized it had no back seats. He has no kids,…

Any Tempo with 4 digits in the price (and most with 3 digits) get a HELL NAW DAWG from me.

Daddy!  The top came off!

Good point, I was drawing on my days as a smog test guy when the CA cars would have an air pump and the federal cars wouldnt. Forgot about the SULEV cars - I worked for a time as a technical advisor for a group of self-service junkyards and in preparation for putting the cars in the yard they would have to drain the…

Hah, there’s really part of me that wants to now that I realize I could!

The plate the guy has on it in the pics - does not belong to the car. It comes back as an ‘87 240.  https://www.bar.ca.gov/pubwebquery/vehicle/pubtstqry.aspx

Totally wont pass that sniff test.  First rule of CA legal engine swaps - cars can only get car engines, trucks only get truck engines.  Since the 4.8 never came in a car, immediate fail.

The plates that are on it are NOT from that car. They come back to an 87 240. https://www.bar.ca.gov/pubwebquery/vehicle/pubtstqry.aspx

The primary reason is because the 4.8 is a truck motor. They definitely don’t allow truck engine swaps into cars. It’s changed very little since the early 90s but the main rules still are:

Exactly this.  It will never get by because a truck engine was selected.  Funny thing is, it would be legal to swap that 4.8 into an appropriate year PT Cruiser because that thing was classified by the govt as a light truck.

The plates dont belong to it.  They are off an ‘87 Volvo.  https://www.bar.ca.gov/pubwebquery/vehicle/pubtstqry.aspx

Nevermind those CA plates its wearing don’t belong to it.  According to the state, the last car to wear those plates was an ‘87 240 and CA doesnt allow the reassignment of standard sequential plates.  https://www.bar.ca.gov/pubwebquery/vehicle/pubtstqry.aspx

True, but for BARs engine swap regulations its really how the vehicle was classified when sold. PT Cruisers and HHRs were classified as trucks so you could put this 4.8 in a PT or HHR and certify it. You’d be completely insane for doing it but you could.

So I was curious and ran the plate through the state “smog check history” page at https://www.bar.ca.gov/pubwebquery/vehicle/pubtstqry.aspx where people can see the history of emission tests by VIN or plate. The plate comes back to an ‘87 240, so the guy is driving it around on false registration.

Just like in designing, they can’t all be winners.  Keep swinging for the fences.

So the money can be handed out by an ATM they dont have to stock with change.

Many of us would have:

Agreed, to a point. Lock pillars are generally not sectioned, especially the B-pillar. The quarter panel yes, but the underlying structure not as the pillars are generally HSS. There are exceptions of course.

This will NEVER pass the CA emission inspection in its current form. Engine swaps are legal, but any vehicle subject to emissions testing with an engine not originally available in the vehicle must have it inspected and certified. It cannot pass that inspection simply due to the engine choice. The 4.8 was never used…

Thats exactly it.  It will never fly with the truck motor.  Car swaps have to have car motors.  I smogged cars here in CA until a few years ago and have been through the process a couple times.