318 LA Rebuild Advice
I forgot about him living in California. What about the curve kit?
as long as it's out of sight and you pass the sniff test, they're not gonna give you static.
a long time ago, i had a 73 buick with a 455 that i had rebuilt with rivera heads (higher compression) and a crower cam. it had 2.5" exhaust with a cross over all the way to the bumper. when they started it up on the rollers for the test everybody in the shop stopped what they were doing to look. the guy at the desk looked at me, smiled and said: that's not stock...
after i got my passing grade, i went home and put back in the GM HEI unit, dialed the timing back in and swapped my "other" q-jet and aircleaner back on. the stock stuff went back on the shelf till the next time i had to go in.
thing is, smog check here is BIG business. it used to be that some of the shops would squeak you thru if it wasn't too egregious, or there used to be "smog hook ups" where you paid some ungodly amount and just got a cert. from some shady so and so.
but now, with the repercussions and penalties for the shops-- fines in the
tens of thousands of dollars, plus fees for
investigation, plus getting bounced off the BAR, it's basically play it straight. so for older stuff, they just go straight to the book. and if your stuff don't look like the book? too bad, so sad. here's your F and try again.