i own a 1980 california rx7 and i recently bought a rebuilt 12a and everything has been going fine in terms of swapping and finding parts but i just ran into a major problem on my new 12a and its that it doesnt have an EGR port. obviously i cant get my car smogged and street legal without it so im asking for any suggestions on what to do.

 

You have two options.

First, take the engine back and get a refund or exchange for the correct engine.

Second, disassemble the engine and install the intermediate housing and rotor housings from your old one. The iron side housings rarely if ever wear signficantly, they only get hurt by running with no air filter or overheating the oil/running without oil. The rotor housings would be the difficult part, as they are also '80 California specific and they are usually the reason why an engine needs rebuilt.

The castings between EGR and non-EGR engines are significantly different.

 

there is a 3rd option; since the EGR valve does nothing for tailpipe emissions, you can just bolt it to the top of the new engine and hope you don't get one of those smog guys who thinks that the engine is supposed to stall when you test the EGR valve

 

Oh yeah! I didn't consider that possibility.

The funny thing is, a lot of EGR valves won't even open up at idle because they are backpressure sensitive, so that "test" would fail a lot of cars...

 

i don't know about the SA, but the S4 EGR only works in 5th gear, so its not even active during the test

 

The odds of you running into a smog tech that could spot the difference is pretty small - - I usually have to school the ones I get on where the carbon canister is (inside the air cleaner) and to attach the timing lead to the bottom, not the top, spark plug, if he wants any reading at all between idle and 3k rpm. If the EGR visibly there and looks to be connected to the right place, you'd probably be OK.

Dont wreck a working EGR to make it fit, though - - they are worth considerable coin.