Dear Dan and puzzled automobile regulation observers,
I'm glad Michigan isn't the only state that passes laws that contradict its own previous law.
I spoke the manager of the classic car center at Orinda Motors and he was aware of these regulations. However, he has never had any of his customers have a problems. Still, apparently a cop could bust you if you violate these stricter modification regulations. Here is a web page the reports that:
http://www.btpautoparts.com/californialaws.htmlJust a quick glance at the California silliness would show that you CAN replace your 67 Buick engine with a newer Dodge Viper engine and be within the law. Makes a lot of sense that a V10 would put out less emissions than a turbo v-6...usually the same reason the term "politician" gets the rap it deserves.
Yes you can but no car after 1967 could have that sort of swap even if it would demonstrably decrease emissions from the factory configuration. As you say these sort of laws are ridiculous and are that way because politicians and regulators have very little understanding of the technology they are trying reign in and zero interest in actually understanding the situation.
Under the circumstances I'm going to follow Orinda Motors advice and keep a low profile. This is really a situation where a classic car advocacy group needs to lobby for laws to overrule these regulations and have the modification rules be the same as the smog rules. At the moment though, I would expect that the majority of cars that show up at say a Good-Guys show are in fact illegal in California. This isn't the sort of thing that you want regulators to suddenly decide to enforce their own rules.
Cheers, Edouard