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Sticking it to the man: 1984 245 Cali Legal B23+T/B230FT Project

940 B230FT's only came with LH2.4 and that's what you will have to have. Crank shaft sensor and all with working CEL.

Block mounted distributor on the B230FT from 740/940 in a 240 turned out to be a real problem for many people who showed it to the Ref in Cali. It is probably the single real obstacle in the whole process even though functionally same distributors were used on the block in the 240 cars - they want to see the distributor in the original location at the rear of the head. I have no idea what source of info they use to spot this- probably manufacturer's based AllData.
 
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I had a 1994 b230ft in my 1980 242 and I never got my swapped approved because of the distributor issue. The first ref I went to accused me of tampering with the ignition computer to get it to work with the block mounted distributor. Once one ref sees that it has the "wrong" distributor, it gets written down in the notes for your car and any other ref you go to will want to see that it has been corrected. Every referee is different though so you might have better luck than I did. I've had 2 240 engine swaps get failed by the ref and 2 swaps passed so I'm familiar with the process if you have any specific questions
 
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Can you just not tell them? Or do the smog people check engine codes and ecu numbers every time? Like, if you have a 240 turbo and swap a b230ft in it are they really gonna notice it's not a b21 anymore?
 
If you changed the block only, the smog tech will generally not care and proceed with the tests. But we are talking about Fawnzee's thread here putting a turbo into his NA car. The smog tech will see that big honkin turbo that isnt supposed to be there.

Just fyi for others reading this, BAR is California's Bureau of Automotive Repair that oversees engine swaps. Engine swaps in California are perfectly legal provided BAR rules are followed. A referee is a BAR employee who inspects a swap for compliance. A smog tech is a private individual who runs a business testing CA cars for smog emissions.
 
Wow, lots of important no-BS info here by Bobxyz. When I went through the CA ref, my project car was CA spec but the donor car was 49-state. That was an issue but they allowed it for my case I dont remember why. The head mount distributor is the big thing here. Keeping the head distributor on a 240 requires a lot of work. Has anybody acquired BAR certification with the head distributor removed and placed on the original B23 location on the side??? I think that makes it a multi-configuration and can be legally complicated. They will also look for a CEL and port if it is OBD-1. They will also look for and test the donor evap and EGR setup. Hey, I dont want to be so negative but its good to look at these things now rather than later. Ref scheduling can be a pain they are always swamped by fix-it citation cases so you want to pass on the first shot and I'd like to see you pass on your first shot too. The refs are very thorough. They will research you and your cars before your appointment. They probably even knew my pets name.

Had no clue about the background research, that's very good to know! Thank you for sharing
 
I had a 1994 b230ft in my 1980 242 and I never got my swapped approved because of the distributor issue. The first ref I went to accused me of tampering with the ignition computer to get it to work with the block mounted distributor. Once one ref sees that it has the "wrong" distributor, it gets written down in the notes for your car and any other ref you go to will want to see that it has been corrected. Every referee is different though so you might have better luck than I did. I've had 2 240 engine swaps get failed by the ref and 2 swaps passed so I'm familiar with the process if you have any specific questions

Thank you for the insight, I'll probably take you up on that offer
 
If you changed the block only, the smog tech will generally not care and proceed with the tests. But we are talking about Fawnzee's thread here putting a turbo into his NA car. The smog tech will see that big honkin turbo that isnt supposed to be there.

Just fyi for others reading this, BAR is California's Bureau of Automotive Repair that oversees engine swaps. Engine swaps in California are perfectly legal provided BAR rules are followed. A referee is a BAR employee who inspects a swap for compliance. A smog tech is a private individual who runs a business testing CA cars for smog emissions.

meh, I also know of a number of people who cleanly did +t swaps on late model 240s and never had them ref'd and still go through smog on a regular basis. They just don't have a bunch of aftermarket **** hanging off of the engine.
 
So, now that I've got the teal 75 wagon, I've been gearing up to send this one off to the market. Unfortunately, I've still got some pretty strange issues with the LH 2.0 in here. Not sure if anyone else has ran into something similar.
1. When freerevving, snapping the throttle plate open causes the engine to stumble. It also drops to 4-6* of timing before catching up, and has some fun (not) intake backfires when it does this. Slowly modulating the throttle plate up is literally perfect. I picked up 2 unknown condition 002 mafs, but neither seem to really help the issue. I've been running through the greenbook for 83 LH2.0, and the mafs test properly (0-1000 ohms with the adjustment pot, 4.1 ohms with the 6 and 7 pins).
2. The IAC was replaced with a junkyard unit that snaps back and forth properly, and it seems to function well. However, it seems to idle around 900 rpm when warm, and I can't get it to 750 (or 720 with the test point grounded) unless I pop the j-hook off and plug both ends with my fingers. My suspicion is that the AC microswitch may not be working properly, given the convenience of it being at 900 rpm (the expected rpm with ac microswitch on according to the greenbook). The ECT tests around what you'd expect at cold and warm temperatures, but I'm replacing that with a new unit anyways.
3. It's running pig rich at idle. O2 sensor with ~2-300 miles on it is covered in soot, plugs are covered in soot, and you can smell how rich it runs. I'm hoping that combined with the tested MAF, and new ECT, this gets sorted out. The FPR doesn't leak when running, tested it by pulling vacuum.

If the new ECT and potentially ac microswitch doesn't work to fix it, I'm kind've at my wits end here. Not sure if anyone else has ran into this with their LH2.0 cars
 
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