I was looking at this camaro today and have encountered the following problems, it is suposedly an 88 but the iroc symbols are on the front of the door and in 88 they were moved to the rear the guy recently has painted the car so i'll acept that and move on, the rear spoiler has no brake lite in it but i thought that they were there for that model year. Also he claims that it is a 350 5.7 and it does have the badge on the bumper to prove it(although not a hard thing to fake ) but it is also a 5 speed and a convertable. as far as i know that is imposable, the vin number has a 3 as a sixth digit thereby confirming that it was not a convertable conversion, and the 5.7 option required a post production conversion to become a rag top. also did chevy even mate the 5 speed to the 350? he claims that it is one of 1800 produced. it is in decent shape cosmeticly and pricewise but i have a feeling that this guys blowing smoke up my a**. i have searched the net but can not find any thing relevent. anyone have the knowledge to help me?:confused:

Try camarosource.ca. This site has all the RPOs and production numbers. Look on the inside of the console for the RPO tag (Z08 for vert, Z28 for IROC). Thirdgen.org is also a great thirdgen site. This is my IROC vert - http://www.thesherwoodgang.com/cars/88camaro/. It's a well optioned car - the RPO and Invoice are linked. You can still get a GM Invoice as well as a carfax report on 88s. No thirdgen vert that was produced by GM ever came with a 350 (well, I think 20 experimental cars or something that never went to the public). If it has the 3 in the VIN, then it was a GM vert, so it either has a 305 with the 350 badges, or had a 350 transplanted. You can check the code on the flat pad in front of the right cylinder head. Is should have a VIN and Engine Suffix that will tell you what it is. You are correct with the 350/5 Speed combo. I have read that it was never produced. If it's a real nice car and even has the incorrect 350, it still may be worth it if it's what you want. A totally restored 88 vert on e-bay with a non matching 350 is over $8k now.

-Dan

Hey Dan where did you go to get your invoice sheet like that ... Would love to get the one for my 91Z convert.

Thats so cool if I could get mine.. dont care if its a copy .

Rob.

Rob, check it out here - http://www.chevelles.com/vis/. I'm going to get one for my 80z also.

-Dan

I have owned 2 third gen's. That car you are talking about is a fake!! GM never made a production 350 for a convertible. If it was an IROC-Z with a 350 than the 8th digit of the VIN would have been an 8. No exceptions!! If it was originally a 305 than the 8th digit would have been an F or an E. Probably an F as that was Tuned Port Injection. I have never seen an IROC with Throttle Body Injection which is what I belive VIN code E is.

Furthermore a 5 speed was never offered behind a 350 in any year of IROC-Production. Never!! It may have been possible to get it in a 1989 1LE or 1990 1LE but I have yet to see one with this feature.

All and I do mean all 350's came equipped with rear disc brakes. Only some 305's had rear disc.


There were 3,761 convertibles produced in 1988. I'm not sure how many were 5 speeds. Lets say half. If that is the case than yes it could have been one of 1,800 produced. But it would have to have the original 305 to be worth something. And all convertibles were 305's. GM/Chevy did not offer a 350 for production in an IROC-Z convertible!!! Unless the engine was replaced with a 350, it's a 305 if he's telling you it's all original.

FWIW I hate 305's!! (I had one in my 1984 Z28). They are unreliable, junk engines better suited as boat anchors. I bought my 1984 Z in 1991 and my 1988 5.7L (350) IROC-Z in late 1994. That thing (the '88) was all original even down to the tires.

Don't let the seller blow smoke up your @$$ about it being an original 350. No way!! If it's original that is great. If not, that's ok too...Just don't overpay for it.

Here is an awesome site to back up my claims.

http://www.iroc-z.com/1988pages/1988factsandfigures.htm

I have owned 2 third gen's. That car you are talking about is a fake!! GM never made a production 350 for a convertible. If it was an IROC-Z with a 350 than the 8th digit of the VIN would have been an 8. No exceptions!! If it was originally a 305 than the 8th digit would have been an F or an E. Probably an F as that was Tuned Port Injection. I have never seen an IROC with Throttle Body Injection which is what I belive VIN code E is.

Furthermore a 5 speed was never offered behind a 350 in any year of IROC-Production. Never!! It may have been possible to get it in a 1989 1LE or 1990 1LE but I have yet to see one with this feature.

All and I do mean all 350's came equipped with rear disc brakes. Only some 305's had rear disc.


There were 3,761 convertibles produced in 1988. I'm not sure how many were 5 speeds. Lets say half. If that is the case than yes it could have been one of 1,800 produced. But it would have to have the original 305 to be worth something. And all convertibles were 305's. GM/Chevy did not offer a 350 for production in an IROC-Z convertible!!! Unless the engine was replaced with a 350, it's a 305 if he's telling you it's all original.

FWIW I hate 305's!! (I had one in my 1984 Z28). They are unreliable, junk engines better suited as boat anchors. I bought my 1984 Z in 1991 and my 1988 5.7L (350) IROC-Z in late 1994. That thing (the '88) was all original even down to the tires.

Don't let the seller blow smoke up your @$$ about it being an original 350. No way!! If it's original that is great. If not, that's ok too...Just don't overpay for it.

Here is an awesome site to back up my claims.

http://www.iroc-z.com/1988pages/1988factsandfigures.htm

How come my 1987 t-top car had a 5 speed and a 350? However, It did not have A/C or a factory radio......:o

Answer: If it's a 1LE, yes. I don't think 1 LE production figures became available until 1989. I don't think anyone knows how many were produced in 1987 & 1988. If it's not a 1LE then---either your 1987 T-top car's 350 engine was not original to the car or the 700R4 Automatic transmission was swapped out in favor of a 5 speed; which some people have done. If the trans is swapped out then the vehicle appears to be matching numbers car because the #'s on the trans are harder to spot. People then will sell a car with a 350 & a 5 speed as a rare factory option or possibly a 1LE, especially if it was a 1989 or 1990 model. Anyone who knows camaro history about the third gen knows Chevy never offered a 5 speed behind a 350 as mass prodction. To have it in a 1987 IROC-Z from the factory all matching numbers with 350 & 5 speed would be like having a 1969 ZL1 Convertible Camaro with the JL8 brake option.

I was 19 years old in 1987. I followed the 3rd gen's closely since the IROC-Z debuted in the fall of 1984 as a 1985 model. Unless it was a rare special factory exotic order aka a 1LE, GM/Chevy NEVER mass produced a 350 engine in a 1987-1990 IROC-Z which was mated to a 5 speed. NEVER!! All the mass produced factory 5 speed cars were originally equipped with 305's and all the 350's had automatics. The 350's all had rear disc brakes. Only some 305's had rear disc. If your car has rear drums then someone swapped out the 305 for a 350.

In any case in 1987 it would fall into one of three categories if it's an IROC-Z....1) Either the 305 was swapped out for a 350, 2) the 700R4 automatic was removed and a 5 speed was installed or 3) someone had contacts at GM and ordered it that way as a 1LE. I would bet on the first two options.

Lastly I worked in the auto business from 1989-1998. The only way you could get a 5 speed behind a 350 was to order a 1LE. The 1LE was the COPO of it's day and very few knew about it....Here is the proof to back up what I am saying about your 1987. Scroll to the bottom and read what they say about the 350 engine and the transmission behind it for 1987..

If your 1987 did not have factory A/C or a radio it could be a rare exotic 1LE....Click the link below...If it is than you better put that car in a museum or keep it in a heated storage facility. Then put it on Barrett-Jackson in 15-years and sell it for 2.1 million like the 1971 Plymouth 'Cuda. Your car sounds like a very rare find. Especially since 1987 was the first year of the 5.7L TPI...I also would have 10 armed security guards around that car.

http://www.iroc-z.com/1987pages/1987factsandfigures.htm

FWIW I hate 305's!! (I had one in my 1984 Z28). They are unreliable, junk engines better suited as boat anchors. I bought my 1984 Z in 1991 and my 1988 5.7L (350) IROC-Z in late 1994. That thing (the '88) was all original even down to the tires

My 305 H.O. has 205,000 miles with only a gasket, bearing and timing gear set change at 125,000 miles. Still running the original camshaft, too. The piston ring seal was never broken. In fact, I could still see a little bit of the factory crosshatch in the cylinder walls, so I decided to pull the crank while leaving the pistons installed. Runs great! Maybe I've been lucky.

Larry

305s are underrated take a ride in mine if you dont believe me

I bought a new iroc in 87, 305 came with a stick and 350 came with an automatic, I settled for the 305 with a stick...crash