BOXCHEV

iTrader: (3)

Been seeing a few short beds I like and kind of want one now. Mostly ones in the 80's, like 83, 84 etc are the years I have been seeing.

Apparently they are basically the same from 73-87? Since I live in Cali I would love to do 5.3/6.0 swap and skip all the smog crap if I can get a 73 model.

I have been google searching the 73+ models and they all seem to look different.

Guess the only difference is they changed the front doghouse between the years. The 73 and 84 below have different front fenders, everything else looks the same and trim could transfer over between the two I assume.

I think this might be a stock 73



And this is a stock 84

Kingc8r

iTrader: (21)

Love these trucks, I definitely want to buy one in the near future.

You should look for a 73-75 and you can swap the front end as I also feel the 80's front looks better.

You might be able to find a Diesel 80 RCSB but they are pretty rare. I wish Ca would allow smog to go up to 1981. Would make things way easier

BOXCHEV

iTrader: (3)

Yeah I wish they would up the smog exempt to 80's cars.

Not sure whats with 75 and older vehicles, I assume there is a very small amount of registered vehicles from those years that are still active on the road maybe so they get the pass.

As time goes by there should be less and less 80's cars driving around hopefully. Then I can smog exempt my 88 monte carlo ss.

fspeedster

iTrader: (6)

My 78 RCSB is just sitting in my yard rusting away due to the fucked up CA smog laws. There's a 6.0 in my garage ready to drop in it too. Mother **** Arnold Swarsashit for not upping the smog exempt year. Before that dumb **** was elected iirc cars and trucks 25 years or older where automatically exempt from smog checks. Rat bastard...

Kingc8r

iTrader: (21)

This isn't true, california has always flip flopped on this and before him it was still 1975 and older....

BOXCHEV

iTrader: (3)

do you guys know what areas of the body they usually rust first on these?

If I start looking for one, its condition wont really matter to me. However the less patch work needed to repair rust the better.

fspeedster

iTrader: (6)

It might of been that way before him but the law expired while him being in office, giving him the chance to up the year of smog exemption.

C5natie

iTrader: (1)

I used to have a 74 Chevy truck. The 1975 year smog rule does not roll so unfortunately your 88 monte carlo will probably never be smog exempt. The state doesn't want any 70s and 80s vehicles on the road anymore and by the state of most of them I don't blame them. I always thought they should just charge a fee every year for smog modded vehicles. It'll be easier to pay them $150-200 versus a smog guy. The state would make a very pretty penny. They could make it on a inspection bases so **** boxes don't get through.

Kingc8r

iTrader: (21)

That would be awesome

BOXCHEV

iTrader: (3)

To be honest I wouldn't mind if they never did smog exempt 80's cars, my cars are registered in another county. Passed smog once and I don't have to smog them ever again.

The monte has a 5.3/4L60 swap, all emissions stuff deleted. It would just be nice to use my home address to register instead and skip the loopholes.


My cars are registered in another county with a PO BOX
My License has another PO BOX address
Then I have my home address

lol surprised cops don't ask a million questions when I get pulled over with all my different addresses.

98trans-am

iTrader: (4)

I'm currently doing an ls swap on my 73. You are correct about fender styles changing. Other than that most parts till 87 are interchangeable.doors rusting through are very common on the lower right and you will most encounter rust in the rear cab corners as well.r replica parts can be found for cheap and even patch panels.long beds are a dime a dozen and shortening the chassis is simple if you want to convert to a short bed.

fspeedster

iTrader: (6)

There ain't too many 70's or 80's running around or enough to impact the environment. No one in their right mind is gonna DD a vehicle that averages 12 mpg at best. Just about Every other state allowes cars 20 years or older to be smog exemp yet CA still has the worst smog in the country . You also don't mind if newer modded cars with big cube engines, turbos, cam, High octane, CAT less, no smog equipment, etc, run around but so called **** boxes can't? Great logic buddy..