Colorado K30 ownership

[Slooptin]

Question for the Colorado folks on here:

I'm currently daily driving my k30 here in Texas. Registration and inspection is easy and I don't think I get tested for emissions or anything, it's not registered as a classic or antique or anything. Is there anything I need to know before I move and start driving the truck there? Would it be beneficial to keep the truck registered in Texas?

Overall, I'm just not sure how to navigate this.

For reference, I've also got a 6.0/4l80e I'm working on that I plan to swap in the truck within the next year

 

[Bextreme04]

Question for the Colorado folks on here:

I'm currently daily driving my k30 here in Texas. Registration and inspection is easy and I don't think I get tested for emissions or anything, it's not registered as a classic or antique or anything. Is there anything I need to know before I move and start driving the truck there? Would it be beneficial to keep the truck registered in Texas?

Overall, I'm just not sure how to navigate this.

For reference, I've also got a 6.0/4l80e I'm working on that I plan to swap in the truck within the next year

You only need an emissions test if you are going to be living in certain counties... mostly around Denver, Boulder, and Ft. Collins.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/v...094&z=8&mid=1PyvHOGyFO72ecV939xcVFwklOb47Aj3U

It seems similar to how we do it here in Oregon. @Catbox has to smog his truck because he lives near Portland, but I can do whatever I want to mine, because I live outside the Portland metro area.

If you are living inside one of those areas, you will have to get emissions tested on a 1985 truck, even if it is registered as a collector vehicle. It looks like maybe the only other workaround would be to register it as a farm truck.

If Colorado is anything like California for emissions, you should be able to get emissions tested with the newer 6.0/4l80 combo, as long as you retain all emissions related aspects of that setup including cats.

 

[Catbox]

Yup.
I live in the metro area, so they sniffer test everything they can from 1975 on up.
This could be the way they do it there as well.

We are going to be combating this by having a "smog correct" engine if we build the daily engine to spicy.
Then there will be an engine swap every couple of years to pass and pull back out.

That and the cats may get installed with V-bands for uhhhh test purposes.

 

[Slooptin]

So would I just need to retard timing and lean out the carb every year when I get tested?

 

[Radiohead]

No. Not exactly. It's not that simple. Unless you have a calibrated 4 gas analyzer...

 

[Bextreme04]

So would I just need to retard timing and lean out the carb every year when I get tested?

Generally the far more onerous part of something like this is that they will probably do a visual inspection to verify that all the original emissions equipment is present. Most vehicles that come from areas that never required that before are missing some or all of that equipment. It becomes very hard to return it to a passable state if emissions labels and original equipment is missing. If everything is there, then it will probably not be too hard to actually pass the sniffer.

 

[Radiohead]

^^ Completely correct. Missing equipment is the first thing they check. There's no point in a sniff test if mandatory smog gear is missing or altered.

 

[Radiohead]

...but I can do whatever I want to mine, because I live outside the Portland metro area.

Up until you don't. Or the boundary grows.

Moving to Portland isn't an option for me so I don't deal with DEQ. Like you, I hope it doesn't go statewide.

 

[Catbox]

^^ Completely correct. Missing equipment is the first thing they check. There's no point in a sniff test if mandatory smog gear is missing or altered.

This is true.
Too a point.
Testers have become somewhat lazy with the older cars as they just looked under our truck to see if there were cats in the exhaust.
New cars have spoiled them.

We have never had the smog pump on it since we have owned it.
Some previous owner along the way removed it.
We passed just fine with the under truck visual, they never look under the hood it seems anymore.
But what the visual won't tell you is if the cats have anything in them.
Ours do not.
They are empty bodies that once upon a time had good cats in them, but they disintegrated and blew out the tailpipe along the way.

We simply have a good running engine with a decent Quadrajet on it.
As long as the sniffer guy is not overly excited and just does the under truck visual, we will pass every time.