My sc400 has roughly 300,000 miles. I'm looking into replacing the engine and possibly the trans. The only problem is my car is a California car. Should I just stick with a California engine to keep things straight forward. Or would it not be that difficult to change it over to a regular non-california smog legal engine. If I were to change the engine, engine wire harness and ecu would there be compatibility issues. I think the only California smog legal parts remaining on the car would be the exhaust after those three components were swapped out.

 

why not rebuild?

 

if the engine works there is no need to replace it. give it a tune-up.
sticking with a cali engine would be easier if there are cali specific emission parts installed on the engine, like I think the 2jz has an additional air tube the goes from the throttle body area to the fuel rail or something like that, I have no idea of the difference on the V8. you may be able to swap those parts over to a non-cali engine, but its not worth it cause there are no shortage of SC parts in California really.

 

I say the same. If you still have good compression across all cylinders, no need to pull the motor. Do all the regular maintenance and you should be good to go.

 

X3 Keep some money saved. When it goes then fix it.