I think it’s more probable to find a friend/relative that lives in a no inspection state/county that will let you register the car there. I don’t see a easy way around that or everyone would do it (the Germans tried...)

 

Let me qualify this. if you put a newer engine iin an older car, it has to be inspected by a California BAR referee. they are really really picky. *ALL* original air pollution control equipment from the newer year car has to be installed and operational. and then you get a BAR cert for your car, and when you have to get it smogged every 2 years, the yuse the donor vehicle's specs for the engine and if its even a bit whack the smog shop will either reject you or want to charge more for a custom rig.

my son had a VW Vangaon Westfalia camper which had a 'Tiico" conversion engine which was a contemporaneous Audi/VW inline 4 2.0L adapted to the Vanagon. This setup supposeldy had a BAR exemption but his particular car had never been inspected. He kept it skating on temporaries and exceptions, then ended up moving to Nevada where they don't care. he sold it years ago.

 

$500 bucks to the person running the test makes nearly everything fine. The issue is the systems that report back home like the OP has to deal with