Hello Forum,
I am buying a 1994 Honda Civic with a engine that was swapped with a 1996 honda vtec engine.

It has over 228,000 on odometer miles but he claims the swapped engine has only 103,000 miles.

The car runs great, no weird vibration while driving, only a small vibration when on idle.(Steering wheel shaking just a tad).

The car has Texas plates and he is selling it here in California.

We already agreed on a price, but before I hand him the money we taking it to a mechanic.


Only thing I am worried about is registering the car in california with texas plates. If the smog passes will DMV still check the engine vin? (Because no paperwork for engine).

Any other obstacles I will be going through since it is has texas plates?

Thanks guys

 

Check the VIN on the engine to make sure it's legit. Then have the owner (or the shop he used) write up a "bill" for the work he put into swapping out the engine, if the engine check comes back okay. Hand in that "bill" along with the title to the DMV when you're registering the car in your state.