Ran into some folks at a local speed shop. All sorts of horror stories on air testing here in Colorado and the wonderful highly trained souls making the decisions (sniff, dyno, port etc) at the stations.. Same woes with Subaru, Audi, Porsche, BMW as Ford.
Easy options for me I guess:
1.Many just register their car in a non emissions area. I guess there are multiple ways to do that (even out of state) but what a PIA.
2. You want HP more than the SGT- just buy it. A Coyote or gt500 will be compliant and there ya go.
3. You want a unique low mile, one owner nice example of a SGT (more than HP) than you got it.
My initial thoughts were 2 and 3 combined (500hp SGT). Probably not going to happen. Best bet probably keep SGT as is and if I do trade, it will be for more than just HP. It will be a dream car of sorts..... Like black, vert GT500 or a Roush etc.
Thanks to everyone who chimed in. I learned a boat load.