Registering a CA car in TN and other questions

[burn_your_money]

Ok, so I'm moving to TN and have stumbled upon a nice B4V from Cali. The CA car is in Canada right now so I'm thinking of buying it and then converting it to diesel. It still has a CA title. What kind of issues can I expect from the TN government in regards to my plan? The car is a 96 or a 97. I think there is an e-test in the area I'm moving to. Do I need to convert it to eTDI or will a mechanical (AAZ, 1.6TD) still pass emissions?

[theman53]

TN meaning Tennessee ? You are moving from Canada?

[burn_your_money]

TN meaning Tennessee ? You are moving from Canada?

Correct. I'll be doing some extended visiting first but will be moving there within the next year most likely.

[wolf_walker]

Depends on what kinda smog inspection they do.  The CA title shouldn't be relevant other than they will likely charge you for re-titling it in a new state.
If you can I'd get the CA title notarized when the owner signs it over to you, just to be on the safe side.  Apparently that isn't a normal thing in CA but it's more
common back east.

http://www.dmv.org/tn-tennessee/smog-check.php

Looks like no smog check unless you are in one of those counties listed or Memphis.
And even then, it reads like they make sure it has smog stuff in place and the CEL isn't on if applicable, no actual tailpipe
or other Cali-type BS.  I'm surprised they check stuff prior to OBD2, there isn't much consistency prior to that.
No mention of diesel smog testing either.

[JBG3]

If it has a CA title and you do not intend to register it in Canada for the moment, I would not do anything until the car was actually in TN and you for sure knew you could do it without issue.  There is a general EPA restriction on repowering that the car usually has to be 25 years old or older before its legal.  
However, having said that, every state has different rules and loop holes.  I've discovered with my own state that the lack of specific addressing laws on diesel swaps turned out to be a bad thing, as that left the EPA mandate as the go to rule, and I could only perform a diesel swap on something 1989 and older.  Even then its not really official, its just ok because after 25 years, a car still has to go to emissions, but doesn't have to pass, so it doesn't matter what engine is actually in there.  

Long story short, you don't want to do all the work up in Canada only to find you can't register the car until 2020 or something because the VIN says its a gas car and they won't do a diesel emissions inspection on a gas car or some such ***.  I feel like you could do it, but id want to hear from someone who has done a diesel swap in TN first and could tell you what shoals they had to navigate with registration transferring from gas to diesel.

Id post this question on a swapping forum, like 4btswaps.com about TN.  Chances are someone can tell you about TN law who has dealt with the mechanics of retitling.  Some states its super easy and well covered by rules. 

[theman53]

Or if you could find a friend and have them register it in another state for you that could be an option. That is, if you run into problems there.

[bbob203]

There is a general EPA restriction on repowering that the car usually has to be 25 years old or older before its legal. 

totally not true at all. People in CA do diesel swaps on b5's and other car nowhere near 25 yo and have no problems. I could call someone in TN in the emissions testing department and ask. Also ask around on TDI club a lot more people doing  swaps over there. TN eh? Im not to far away relatively speaking depending on where your moving to?

[JBG3]

There is a general EPA restriction on repowering that the car usually has to be 25 years old or older before its legal.  

totally not true at all. People in CA do diesel swaps on b5's and other car nowhere near 25 yo and have no problems. I could call someone in TN in the emissions testing department and ask. Also ask around on TDI club a lot more people doing  swaps over there. TN eh? Im not to far away relatively speaking depending on where your moving to?

Actually its completely true, there is a general EPA rule.  As I said, every state is different, and that EPA rule may or may not be trumped by state law.

My point was that states that don't have clear cut policies may fall back on the EPA mandate, like RI for one.  Not finding specific rules could either mean its a grey area and easy, or they might be a pain like RI and just go with the EPA.

CA has very specific swap rules, which is awesome since you can do newer than 25 no problem provided the engine is the same year or newer from what I hear.  I think VT is even easier to do a very recent diesel swap.

I'm just throwing caution out there as I was prepared to do my diesel swap 3 years ago, only to discover after months that I couldn't register the vehicle until it passed 25 if it had a diesel and a gas VIN, so I had to wait until recently.  I even made 3 or 4 information trips to the DMV, visited inspection stations, made numerous calls.  No one seemed to know until I finally got someone who definitively told me no and cited state law which just followed the EPA mandate which is more about emissions inspections than anything.
If I were planning to do it, id rather not commit to the swap until I knew for sure I could register it.  

[JBG3]

To dicount my buzzkill comments above though, I think its a lot easier to do a diesel swap if the car was available from the factory as a diesel in the first place, as far as registration.

A lot of my problems came from swapping into a vehicle that never came as a diesel, so I was stuck with EPA restrictions. 

If its a model car that came as a diesel in the US, things could be really easy with registration. 

Either way, id be making calls to TN before I committed

[Rising]

So far as I understand tn is much more lenient when it comes to cars and inspections than CA. Is the car obdii? Usually pre obdii are emissions exempt (at least that's pretty much how it works in va) I believe there is also an age limit on diesels that can be tested too.

As far as the swap itself. I don't believe there would be any problems so long as you don't start with an obdii vehicle and end up ruining the computers ability to read that.

I have a friend in Tenn that I could ask a few questions if you want me to try and find out more specifically?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[bbob203]

I wasn't trying to be confrontational JBG!   I'm lucky Indiana is open season. I understand where your coming from. When I lived in ohio they basically told me that I can convert a vehicle to diesel I just have to tell them i converted it at the testing station and they sniff it if it's pre 97 post they have to ECU'd. Only 7 or so counties in ohio even run emissions anywhere else is open season.

[CRSMP5]

biiggest rule of thumb on diesel swaps.....

must match usa epa standard of car build date...

a 97, or 98 diesel vw in usa is e tdi... no m diesels....

not in usa vw diesel offerings...

78-80 i.5
81-87, 89-92 were 1.6.. td certain years... eco had cats...
then tdi in 96...

the skipped years are issue as no vw epa on diesels for years skipped... so gotta use newer diesel on skipped... if it had a cat better have one...

why building a old idi into tdi-m best.. but newest you can in theory go is 92... rest would have to be e as usa has no epa for aaz..

this also goes for newer cars too.. cannot put a 2000tdi in a 04pd car... can put the pd in the 00.. but not other way round...

cali... 98 and up get plugged in.. older then that for now exempt..

use the basic rule though.. gotta meet current year of car build for diesel power min epa regs..

[JBG3]

I wasn't trying to be confrontational JBG!   I'm lucky Indiana is open season. I understand where your coming from. When I lived in ohio they basically told me that I can convert a vehicle to diesel I just have to tell them i converted it at the testing station and they sniff it if it's pre 97 post they have to ECU'd. Only 7 or so counties in ohio even run emissions anywhere else is open season.

sorry!   

I got so pissed at the DMV for a different answer every time, my irritation carries over on similar subjects. 

Thats pretty reasonable, here every car is emissions inspected for eternity provided you don't have historic plates, but after 25, it doesn't have to pass.  The state requires the inspections anyway for data purposes says the inspection station.  Silly rule if you ask me since thats labor and time the state requires for no purpose, but there are benefits to other facets of state law that make up for the silly rule. 

[JBG3]

biiggest rule of thumb on diesel swaps.....

must match usa epa standard of car build date...

a 97, or 98 diesel vw in usa is e tdi... no m diesels....

not in usa vw diesel offerings...

78-80 i.5
81-87, 89-92 were 1.6.. td certain years... eco had cats...
then tdi in 96...

the skipped years are issue as no vw epa on diesels for years skipped... so gotta use newer diesel on skipped... if it had a cat better have one...

why building a old idi into tdi-m best.. but newest you can in theory go is 92... rest would have to be e as usa has no epa for aaz..

this also goes for newer cars too.. cannot put a 2000tdi in a 04pd car... can put the pd in the 00.. but not other way round...

cali... 98 and up get plugged in.. older then that for now exempt..

use the basic rule though.. gotta meet current year of car build for diesel power min epa regs..

so Ohio is similar to CA with the same year or newer rule observation on diesel swaps? 

This is the one benefit to rules in RI.  After 25 years, they don't care whats in your car no matter what the EPA says.  I could put a 1925 engine in a 1985 vehicle, and they would test it, fail it for emissions, pass it for safety, and put a sticker on there and tell me have a nice day.  The sky's the limit past a certain year.   

[CRSMP5]

no ohio has no real laws... but to follow federal laws... no state can deny a diesel swap for a epa allowed car of said year... if vw sold it, epa confirmed it.. no state can deny it...

places like texas changed laws this year... they have bs that a "rebuilt car" with no definition of what rebuilt defines.. has to meet current year epa...

like if you rebuilt a 1925 model t.. has to meet 2013 epa... kid you not... this includes kit cars... cali is like this for all but the 1st 500 kit cars trying to be registered each new year.. only 500 exempts.. rest say jan wiill have to meet 2014 epa!! figured this out with my jackrabbit never being built... and even in ohio this epa build date has me screwed... never been built or vin assigned... by ohio laws.. has to meet year built epa even though its based off a mk1.... so i gotta grey area it now....

so yes.. why i like tdi or idi swaps ih a b3... vw has idi till 92... so can do e or m on them.. but after 92.. has to be e in usa.. no idi standard tested or to try to ride or slip it in...