SR20DET Street Legal or not?

[baldwink]

Does anyone know if it is possible to do a SR20DET swap and keep you car street legal ?:thinker

[SpeedRacer1]

NO and it never will be. Unless you pay motorex about 18000 to legalize it and before you get them to do that you have to talk them into it first, good luck.

[baldwink]

What can I do to it then and keep it street legal and still get HP?

[SpeedRacer1]

Nothing, the way to not get in trouble is to not get caught with it and have it pass all the standard emissions. Dont tell insurance, cops, basically just keep it a secret. In most states you wouldnt get pulled over and then have a cop find out about it, but in Cali the Cops know what the engine looks like and try to catch people who have them. My 1990 does just fine here in WA, not like anyone will get you in trouble unless your racing or fail emissions.

[BuudWeizErr]

Cops in Cali don't all know. Only if you live in major metro areas. In my city, there are about a dozen cars that run around with FMIC's and no one gives them any ****. No cop around here is going to know my engine isn't the stock one. I might have the valve cover painted as an extra layer of protection though.

To answer your question though: NO. The engine isn't on the EPAs list of approved engines. It was never made here. Thus, the engine is never, will never, and can never be legal unless it's done through Nissan, Motorex, or the EPA.

[S13240]

The answer is sooooooooo obvious...:thinker

[Blueorb]

A POSSIBILITY is just keeping your engine and doing stroke, bore, port polishish, bolt ons, make it bomb proof for a turbo and there you go...

My friend had an S4 installed bigger turbos and then crashed it racing. He said that insurance would cover the installed tubros as long as he showed them receipts. I don't know if this is true so that is why I am asking if anyone has experience.. also this is in Mass (worse place for insurance companies.)

Now if this is true then doing the above upgrades COULD have you covered, but it could only be on turbos and engines and so on.

[Daunttless]

Motorex doesn't legalize SR20s, only Skylines. There is no way to have a truly legal SR20. Period. End. If this thread gets asked again, the next person is getting a beating and a lockdown. There are 50 threads asking this exact same question, literally at least 50. How do I know this, because EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM HAS BEEN ANSWERED. The engine is not legal.

[ItzGenX]

hehe..look what you guys did... you stepped on daunt's toe and for that you must all pay! (for your motors) haha

[ahhsk]

what about the sr20de? epa legal, found in production cars yada yada, my main concern is with an insurance company in the event of a total loss.

[BuudWeizErr]

Did the SR20DE ever get made in the US as a RWD setup? Nope.Unless you want to convert an SE-R engine to RWD or a 240SX to FWD, even if you can get an RWD SR20DE, it's still illegal.

NOTE: I don't believe any RWD SR20DE's were made here, I doubt I'm wrong, but I could be.

[Daunttless]

they weren't. : )

[BuudWeizErr]

they weren't. : )

Didn't think so, thanks Dauntless!

[ahhsk]

Take a step down fellas. Im pretty sure everyone here knows it was not offered for a rear wheel drive, to state that would be redundant.

maybe someone can answer the question based on personal info or perhapes a forum member that has been involved in a total loss claim with an sr 240.

[I H8 UR DSM]

sr20det-for off road use only : D

[Team503]

I can't say about the SR20DET situation with insurance, but I can tell you that in my wreck and when I was carjacked, the insurance company paid FULLY (every damn penny including tax and shipping) for ever part and every dollar in labor performed on both cars that I could provide a receipt for.

The law clearly states that the insurance company is responsible for (in a comprehensive claim situation) reimbursing you the amount necessary to replace your car, AS IS. Of course, that means they could have deducted for damage, but they're also liable for any modifications to the vehicle.

I'm not a lawyer though, so you can't quote me.

[platinum240sx]

i just got my s13 a few monthes ago and havent put any mods on yet cuz winters coming up and its gonig to be stored but after winter im planning to do an SR swap at a shop near my house , i live in toronto but in the suburbs , my car is not emissions tested or certifyed yet so ,, is this what i should do? 1 go get my car e tested and certifyed with ka motor?2 i will neeed a new exhaust for it because old exhaust has a hole in itbut i dont want to buy an exhaust just to pass then buy a new performence exhaust for my sr?plz post what i should do thx!

[I H8 UR DSM]

get it inspected before yo udo the swap.

[delusion_s13]

aight so if i drop in a sr20det in FL, where we dont got to do emissions.. aslong as the cops wont check my ****, they wont know its illegal right? and if i crash insurnace will pay for the sr20det and **** aslong as i show receipts? cuz if thats the case, ill probably get the sr20

[silviamirage]

hmmm...I may be wrong about this, but can't the insurance company sue a policyholder for insurance fraud if they try to make a claim on a car and the company finds out that you have been paying for a policy that doesn't take into account the mods. It may depend upon the full coverage policy, but I thought that the price for each policy depended upon the past of the policyholder, the price of the car, etc..., and when modifications are made on the car the price is re-adjusted. If the policyholder doesn't inform the insurance company, they are defrauding the company because they aren't paying the full price for the services, or so I thought. It would make sense for this to be true, as the government is a slave to the insurance companies.

[SR180SX]

hmmm...I may be wrong about this, but can't the insurance company sue a policyholder for insurance fraud if they try to make a claim on a car and the company finds out that you have been paying for a policy that doesn't take into account the mods. It may depend upon the full coverage policy, but I thought that the price for each policy depended upon the past of the policyholder, the price of the car, etc..., and when modifications are made on the car the price is re-adjusted. If the policyholder doesn't inform the insurance company, they are defrauding the company because they aren't paying the full price for the services, or so I thought. It would make sense for this to be true, as the government is a slave to the insurance companies.

I agree

[Team503]

hmmm...I may be wrong about this, but can't the insurance company sue a policyholder for insurance fraud if they try to make a claim on a car and the company finds out that you have been paying for a policy that doesn't take into account the mods. It may depend upon the full coverage policy, but I thought that the price for each policy depended upon the past of the policyholder, the price of the car, etc..., and when modifications are made on the car the price is re-adjusted. If the policyholder doesn't inform the insurance company, they are defrauding the company because they aren't paying the full price for the services, or so I thought. It would make sense for this to be true, as the government is a slave to the insurance companies.

Quite probably so under the letter of the law - I would think that whether they do anything about it rather than just pay would depend on the cost of the claim.

Remember, insurance companies routinely pay for stereo systems worth several thousand dollars in both wrecks and thefts.

If it were $50,000 in mods, I imagine they'd do whatever they can to avoid paying, legal or not. I think that for the $3,000-$5,000 most SR swaps cost, they won't bother. Why? It probably costs them $10,000 just to start the suit, and we all know the only thing that matters is money.

[martin]

i just got my s13 a few monthes ago and havent put any mods on yet cuz winters coming up and its gonig to be stored but after winter im planning to do an SR swap at a shop near my house , i live in toronto but in the suburbs , my car is not emissions tested or certifyed yet so ,, is this what i should do? 1 go get my car e tested and certifyed with ka motor?2 i will neeed a new exhaust for it because old exhaust has a hole in itbut i dont want to buy an exhaust just to pass then buy a new performence exhaust for my sr?plz post what i should do thx!

Hey I'm in Canada too, Ottawa. Just in the process of doing the SR swap myself. I didn't have teh option of dongteh Emission test first because I boufght the car with a knocking engine. I would strongly suggest doing teh E-Test before taking out the KA. Then you won't have anything to worry about for 2 years. As for your exhaust, you'll have to replace it for teh SR swap anyway so do it first, put on whatever exhaust you are planning on using with the SR. The SR downpipe lines up with the stock cat, so you should be all set if you go this route.

-Martin.

[martin]

Motorex doesn't legalize SR20s, only Skylines. There is no way to have a truly legal SR20. Period. End. If this thread gets asked again, the next person is getting a beating and a lockdown. There are 50 threads asking this exact same question, literally at least 50. How do I know this, because EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM HAS BEEN ANSWERED. The engine is not legal.

I know what a beating is, how does that work on a forum? What's a lockdown?

Sure you know a lot about these engines and swaps, that's how you make your money. Are you sure you don't want this question asked again because the answer is bad for business?

BTW.. I searched "street legal" and "emission" and found a total of 4 threads. So I don't know where you get your 50 from. Could be I don't know how to use the search command (altogether possible).

Hail to the King my ***!

[Daunttless]

Well, I just did a search on it, and had five show up on the first page that answered the question, not sure how many pages came up, because I didn't click thru it all, but it was at least three. In every single thread I've answered that it isn't legal, I'm usually the one who tells people that. Its also listed on my site that it isn't legal. I make it very clear that the engine isn't legal, and it doesn't really hurt business at all. I don't want people to get burned, and thats why I'm very clear, every time it comes up. I tell people to SEARCH for it because its been discussed in depth, and when I say "its not legal" and explain, it usually still gets rebuked with a "what about this" or "what about that." The answers are in all the other posts, before you think that you have come up with a "new" angle, you should go look at all the other "new" angles that have already been brought up. I'm also pretty sure your first post has been answered a dozen times as well. So, for your information, there are quite a lot of threads about it, it doesn't hurt my business because most people dont' care, and I'm only frustrated because people always think they've come up with a "new" angle when that angle was discussed the previous week in depth. I could go into such things as if you had more than nine posts and had been around longer than November, you may have noticed that, however, I don't think its necessary beyond that. Enjoy your day!

[Daunttless]

Oh yeah, and a lockdown is me closing the thread.

Hail to the King is a reference to Bruce Campbell's Character Ash in the Evil Dead Series, 1, 2, and Army of Darkness. I personally prefer Army of Darkness, excellent movie.

[AunVoh]

what Daunt does to those who don't know the meaning 'beatdown'

[ChickenBoo]

BTW.. I searched "street legal" and "emission" and found a total of 4 threads. So I don't know where you get your 50 from. Could be I don't know how to use the search command (altogether possible).

Displaying Topics 1 to 25 of 38

That's what i got when i just searched for emission.

Displaying Topics 1 to 25 of 41

That's street legal. The search function is REAL easy to use... so you've also just proven you're a moron.

[delusion_s13]

yea heres the final answer to the question... NO, its is not legal in the states.. its impossible to legalize it.. unless u got millions and hook ups in motorex or EPA. If u do get the swap, and u gotta do emissions, then yer kinda ****ed.. if yer in a state where u dont have to do emisions, then yer ok. U can swap ka wit sr20det and do whatever u want if u dont have to **** wit emissions.. about insurance.. im pretty sure their not going to want to pay for a sr20det.. which is illegal.. like the previous posts pointed out. Money is everything in the insurance business.. and they will work hard to save the money, so if you come wit a receipt from a sr20det, which is illegal, they wont pay for it..

TO conclude.. if u gotta do emmisions, dont do the swap unless yer not gonna drive the car and jsut use it for racing. if u dont have to do emisions, then do the swap, but make sure u dont crash and **** up the engine, cuz insurance wont pay for ****.

[martin]

Well, I just did a search on it, and had five show up on the first page that answered the question, not sure how many pages came up, because I didn't click thru it all, but it was at least three. In every single thread I've answered that it isn't legal, I'm usually the one who tells people that. Its also listed on my site that it isn't legal. I make it very clear that the engine isn't legal, and it doesn't really hurt business at all. I don't want people to get burned, and thats why I'm very clear, every time it comes up. I tell people to SEARCH for it because its been discussed in depth, and when I say "its not legal" and explain, it usually still gets rebuked with a "what about this" or "what about that." The answers are in all the other posts, before you think that you have come up with a "new" angle, you should go look at all the other "new" angles that have already been brought up. I'm also pretty sure your first post has been answered a dozen times as well. So, for your information, there are quite a lot of threads about it, it doesn't hurt my business because most people dont' care, and I'm only frustrated because people always think they've come up with a "new" angle when that angle was discussed the previous week in depth. I could go into such things as if you had more than nine posts and had been around longer than November, you may have noticed that, however, I don't think its necessary beyond that. Enjoy your day!

I'm surprized you even responded to my post, given that I only have nine posts after all. BTW... I've been on the 240sx mailing list for about 3 years and only just joind this forum because I've only just started a SR swap. Seems logical to me.If you don't want to answer newbie/repeat questions that's fine by me.