Transition to Arizona with 351w Swapped Fox

Cobbage_45

Member
Jul 25, 2019
25
8
13
California
Hi guys! Just a heads up this is a very long post! I'm new here but have been following these forums since I got my 90 fox back in 2016. Most have helped alot! My goal is to move to Arizona (goodyear region) in 2 years and I'm posting here to seek guidance from any AZ locals about living with a 351w swapped fox body. So here's a long background story, hoping this may help some others in similar situation in the future as well or put you to sleep if you have problem sleeping:

I was in VA Beach Virginia when I got my 90 fox, so no smog to worry about at the time. The car came with smog stuff in bits and pieces so i threw them all out at the time (Yes super dumb move... and more disapointments to come!). I was convinced by friends to do a 351w swap with a 94 roller block, and i spend ALOT of money getting parts thrown into the car). I'm not sure how sig works but I did my best to put the car's info there. Annnnd no i didn't keep any of the stuff that came with the car... Now I made another dumb move and moved back to CA for family reasons, I initially wanted to move to AZ but I needed my family in CA as a starting base. For a year, the fox is sitting on jackstands but now my VA registration is almost up and I do want to at least get it prepared for Arizona. So I reinstalled all the smog stuff known to me (smog pump, diverter/bypass valves, AIR tube, and I had to use a 5.8L smog crossover tube since the 5.0 one was too short). I have Pro-m ECU so there's no connections for EGR nor the TAD/TAB solenoids but I installed/left everything there just so they're present at least.

So now here's the long question(s) for any local AZ fox owners:

I read through the possible tests for AZ smog but why does people make it sound like it can be as bad as CA's? So there's the sniffer and 4 things verified visually right? Smog pump, cats (4 of them), evap, and egr? That's it? I understand I may run into some smog tech that cares too much or knows nothing but would a 351w swapped fox that has smog pump, 4 cats, evap and egr installed with Pro-M ECU and AFR gauges be okay in Phoenix region of Arizona?

Reading through other forums I didn't quite get the answers I wanted because everyone only mentioned skating by w/o cats and somehow the topic changed to baseball games or the forum just stops there.

The only main concerns so far are:
351w swapped fox
AFR gauges
Maybe the Pro-M ECU?

Many thanks!
 
  • Sponsors (?)


Don't know what members are from the state of Arizona, I think there are a couple.
You can go to myazcar.com and look for some answers and they list a phone number to call with questions too. That my eliminate any confusion about what will work and what will not.
Arizona members are encouraged to jump in with their helpful hints too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Don't know what members are from the state of Arizona, I think there are a couple.
You can go to myazcar.com and look for some answers and they list a phone number to call with questions too. That my eliminate any confusion about what will work and what will not.
Arizona members are encouraged to jump in with their helpful hints too.

General kartheif,

Should I move this to the tech forum or is this forum appropriate?
 
If you don't need the car as a "daily driver", you should 1st get some Grundy or American Modern collector car insurance. My car has an "agreed value" of $15,000. You can get a higher or lower agreed value for your car/needs. Full coverage loke this on mine is about $200/year. Then with this insurance policy (get insurance 1st), you can register the car in AZ as a "collector" vehicle. No emission testing or inspection whatsoever. Its also cheap. Like $100 for 5 years. I'm in AZ, so feel free to shoot me a message if you like.
Garrett
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
If you don't need the car as a "daily driver", you should 1st get some Grundy or American Modern collector car insurance. My car has an "agreed value" of $15,000. You can get a higher or lower agreed value for your car/needs. Full coverage loke this on mine is about $200/year. Then with this insurance policy (get insurance 1st), you can register the car in AZ as a "collector" vehicle. No emission testing or inspection whatsoever. Its also cheap. Like $100 for 5 years. I'm in AZ, so feel free to shoot me a message if you like.
Garrett

ggradtech,

I didn't know classic/collector insurance is still a thing in AZ. I saw it on the AZ DOT website a few years back but now I looked everywhere and I can't find it. That's why I was worried. Thanks for the reminder about it though! I do have a plan for it to be a weekend short trip car. It's just that I looked in so many places and not many people talked much about AFR gauges or 351w swap at an AZ smog check except making it sound as bad as CA's without the CARB EO crap.
 
It's not really "advertised" on the DMV website. I've had a few cars registered/insured this way. The most important thing is to get the insurance first. It HAS to be aquired first in order to show the DMV that it has been deemed a "collector" car. The year doesn't really matter either. I could register on 03 Cobra or Mach 1 and it would still work out.
 
How strict is the AZ smog test. If you have catalytic converters and a Pro M. It might pass without EGR if it's just a sniff test.

Rt jam,

From what I read through websites like myazcar as mentioned by General karthief is that they got the sniffer and a visual mainly on the cats, pcv (not egr as I stated earlier), evap (may do pressure test), and smog pump... maybe I'm just freaking out because of how crappy CA is for people like us.
 
It's not really "advertised" on the DMV website. I've had a few cars registered/insured this way. The most important thing is to get the insurance first. It HAS to be aquired first in order to show the DMV that it has been deemed a "collector" car. The year doesn't really matter either. I could register on 03 Cobra or Mach 1 and it would still work out.

Gotcha. That's very interesting. I did a quote with Hagerty a few years back after reading about AZ collector's car and my goodness it'd cost me $3k a year! :o

Just one more thing... I know CHP's in California can pull you over and do visual inspection and send you to the pickier referee. Are AHPs kind of the same or I just need a break from California?
 
Check out American Modern Insurance or Grundy

Will do! Thanks Garrett! I'd probably have to clear it up with either Grundy or American Modern but when it was a little vague reading some of the requirements... like is it still acceptable to take the car out for a weekend for a quick trip to a sit down restaurant?

Apart from all the questions, this gave me a lot of hope because I just lost all of it and went negative in California!
 
Sure thing. The way the insurance/registration "reads" is basically......
you won't let anyone under 25 drive it, you must park it in a garage at night and not use it as a daily driver type car.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
How hard is it. Well pretty hard so hard I had to register my car in a different count to have emission exempt!
My car basically most stock minus aluminum eddy heads, cobra upper lower stock injectors, and bigger OEM ford MAF, and stock throttle body with stock mustang timing!
You only get 5 tries at Az emissions once you go to 6th try and you don’t pass you get bounced out of system until issue is completed and corrected.
Took my ride to emission expert shop he told me your car car good but Tad/Tab not working when supposed to. Had them checked to see if they worked manually and they did
Mechanic said you have 1 more try he recommended registering car in exempt emissions county because my car is nice and would hate to see parked because he could not find faulty emissions part!
So how hard is it they don’t mess around here and don’t think you can bribe. The state runs the emission shops so don’t try!
 
  • Surprised
Reactions: 1 user
Why even bother with all that BS emsission nonsense? Just get some collector insurance. Its $200/year for FULL coverage. The AZDOT registration is $100/5years and you never even need any type of inspection. Unless, of course, you drive your Mustang as a "daily" and don't own a second car. Even then, I see guys driving with the "historic classic" tags and they drive them everyday. It might get you in a pickle though if it's ever discovered by the insurance people that you are scamming them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Why even bother with all that BS emsission nonsense? Just get some collector insurance. Its $200/year for FULL coverage. The AZDOT registration is $100/5years and you never even need any type of inspection. Unless, of course, you drive your Mustang as a "daily" and don't own a second car. Even then, I see guys driving with the "historic classic" tags and they drive them everyday. It might get you in a pickle though if it's ever discovered by the insurance people that you are scamming them.
I looked at that insurance but for me it was not good! Insurance agent told me ok we are ready to go but just a reminder with collector car insurance you don’t want too drive your car for more than 2000 miles!
Screw that it is an option but I love driving my fox body on a daily basis
 
How hard is it. Well pretty hard so hard I had to register my car in a different count to have emission exempt!
My car basically most stock minus aluminum eddy heads, cobra upper lower stock injectors, and bigger OEM ford MAF, and stock throttle body with stock mustang timing!
You only get 5 tries at Az emissions once you go to 6th try and you don’t pass you get bounced out of system until issue is completed and corrected.
Took my ride to emission expert shop he told me your car car good but Tad/Tab not working when supposed to. Had them checked to see if they worked manually and they did
Mechanic said you have 1 more try he recommended registering car in exempt emissions county because my car is nice and would hate to see parked because he could not find faulty emissions part!
So how hard is it they don’t mess around here and don’t think you can bribe. The state runs the emission shops so don’t try!

That is interesting and scary... why does it sound like it's even harder than California? My mom's 91 Geo Metro was crap but it was never thoroughly inspected like that. When they said visual, I thought it means "visual" as in no touchy or random tests unless stated because shouldn't they be 'observing' what's tampered, missing or whatever? Even at my former work place that visual means 'look but don't touch or else you'll be in big trouble!.' Sounds like one of those try hard or know nothing shops but then again I'm the one that actually needs to worry about my car's pursuit of happiness; Who am I to talk right? haha Thanks for the information.

I plan on only driving it on the weekends, even then it'll be a short trip to whatever places. So I think I'd go with what Garrett recommended and register it as a collector for my sanity and money saving measures. Thank goodness this is a thing in AZ. If only they exempt 25 yrs and older cars (I'm surprised even NEW YORK exempts 26 yrs and older cars!!! What sorcery is that??).
 
I may be mistaken, but there is no age of vehicle requirement. Just to clarify, AZ has "collector" and also "classic" designations. I was gonna buy an 03 Mach1 and have it set up as a "collector" registration, I'm pretty sure it's American Modern that I use now, and they will give you insurance on a car newer than 25 years old. If you have that insurance, AZ will allow you to set it up as a collector car. Needs to be stored in a garage, not driven by anyone under 25, etc. for the classic/collector insurance companies to cover you though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I may be mistaken, but there is no age of vehicle requirement. Just to clarify, AZ has "collector" and also "classic" designations. I was gonna buy an 03 Mach1 and have it set up as a "collector" registration, I'm pretty sure it's American Modern that I use now, and they will give you insurance on a car newer than 25 years old. If you have that insurance, AZ will allow you to set it up as a collector car. Needs to be stored in a garage, not driven by anyone under 25, etc. for the classic/collector insurance companies to cover you though.

Oh no you're right! I mentioned some age exemption only because I wish AZ's like that! I'm sure there's a reason why. I was looking between American Modern and Grundy but I don't think I'll get an accurate quote until I'm about to move there... which is another two years out.