well the maverick is finally a running machine so its time for inspection/registration and i need some input from any other nj guys. first a little background on what im running: 302 roller out of an 88 mustang aluminum intake with 750 eldebrock carb holly blue fuel pump and regulator crane cam 512 exhaust and lift (nice choppy idle) 6901 headers into dual 2.5 pipes with flowmaster mufflers that being said, its loud as anything and does not smell too unlike a gokart while running. also, i have the coil and fuel pump on toggle switches in the cabin. any chance on getting it to pass regular inspection or am i gonna have to go for historic/QQ tags? if i do have to go historic, whats everyones general experience with driving it around? Any trouble from police, etc? How bout insurance? thanks..if i can think of anything else, ill post it up later.
Your inspection depends on your State's view of emissions. Since it will be obvious that there are no more emission components on your car the inspection may be very short. You may get an order to re-install the EGR, timing controls, Distributor, stock cam and air heater box....etc. If they don't inspect for emissions then you can probably license it either way.
I went historic 5 years ago, and it's the best thing I every did to simplify my enjoyment of the hobby. No inspections, no worries about emissions BS, registration is free, and insurance is cheap. I have not encountered any problems with driving anywhere I want, as the "rules" are written loosely enough to be able come up with a valid excuse for almost any excursion you might want to take. Much much much easier than dealing with regular inspections.
thanks im definitely gonna go the historic route then. could you go over the general process of registering a car as historic? i tried looking on the mvc and dmv sites but could find no info on it whatsoever.
Many states (possibly excluding CA and NY) allow our older cars to pass if the windshield wipers work, headlights work hi and low, and it brakes to a stop within 1/4 mile. Look up the laws in your state, or call a local inspection station and ask what they look at. Mine is BARELY legal, spooled rear, lopes like crazy and barely idles, has no cat converter, smells like it has unburned gas coming out the exhaust, Flowmaster super44s dumping at the axle VERY loud, drags the ground over any speedbump or driveway, etc. but Texas laws let it pass. But that is just our local laws. In TX, we can inspect our cars without emission inspections if it is 1978 or older (or 25 yrs old, i guess...), or pre-cat for most makes. Then it just has to pass the "safety inspection"...wipers, headlights, turn signals, etc.
