Best American Handling Car (80s Retro)

[bill25]

All 1987 350 TPI L98 IROC-Z's required 3.27 gears, J65 rear disc brakes, G80 limited slip differential, and KC4 engine oil cooler. ( 225 hp @ 4400 and 330ftlb @ 2800)

In 1989 4-wheel disc brakes (RPO J65) were an option.

The IROCs had Tuned Port Injection, so maybe the fuel lines and tank are ok? Fuel pump?

1990 was the first year it got airbags and the last year of the IROC-Z (the Z-28 continued on). It had a slight horsepower increase to 245 @ 4400 rpm and torque numbers also rose to 345 @ 3200 rpm.

Getting one of these for like 3K and swapping in a 5.3 for like 850 and a radiator with electric fans from a 4th gen might be a pretty cheap way to get a decent sports car.

[bill25]

This is a great article showing the size differences.
http://blog.caranddriver.com/the-chevro ... ght-think/

[bill25]

Here is a good sales chart of the Camaro Vs. the Mustang through time.
http://blog.caranddriver.com/warning-gr ... ing-color/

I will admit it. I didn't realize that the Mustang sold so much better most of the time.

[kevm14]

Performance wise, it isn't close. The Gen 4 towards the end had 315 HP, some dyno pretty close to that at the wheel compared to the 180-190 in the 3rd Gen.

I think the Gen 4 is almost 2 seconds to 60 faster.

Right. The slowest V8 4th gen basically trapped 100 in the 1/4 mile (which translates to a high 13 to low 14 depending on launch). That was in 1993. They got faster from there. Some of the LS1 SS package Camaros are pretty nice cars, with factory sub-frame connectors.

I saw a picture of an IROC, and it definitely had drum brakes in the rear. That would have to go. I also wonder if the newer ones (89-92) were upgraded to rear disk. These would have to be LS swapped. I wonder if the 89-92 were fuel injected and had digital gauges. If so, this LS swap might be a lot cheaper than the Monte.

Discs were definitely available on the 3rd gen, but I don't know if it was a year/model/option thing. Adam might know.

The Z28 had TPI available, I think, from 1985. Certainly that was the first year for TPI on anything.

Digital gauges won't be any easier than analog gauges. At some point, GM went to electronic gauges. I suspect this probably happened within the 3rd gen's platform lifetime. If you get a car with a speedo cable, there are ways to still feed a VSS signal to the computer, and have a cable to run the speedo. Jags That Run has all kinds of parts for that stuff, and they HAVE had these parts for probably 15 years now. This stuff isn't new. The tach probably can also be made to work fine.

The rest of the gauges were never driven via computer (generally, GM didn't do that kind of thing until ~1999), and so can be made to do so with the discrete sensors as they were on the stock car.

Even the electronic gauges weren't driven directly from the computer. The only computer interaction would have been for the trip computer stuff on the Corvettes. Tach came from the coil, and the speedo either was a cable or some kind of buffer box between the VSS and dash.

[kevm14]

All 1987 350 TPI L98 IROC-Z's required 3.27 gears, J65 rear disc brakes, G80 limited slip differential, and KC4 engine oil cooler. ( 225 hp @ 4400 and 330ftlb @ 2800)

In 1989 4-wheel disc brakes (RPO J65) were an option.

The IROCs had Tuned Port Injection, so maybe the fuel lines and tank are ok? Fuel pump?

TPI used an in-tank pump so you can upgrade to whatever you need.

[Adam]

Getting one of these for like 3K and swapping in a 5.3 for like 850 and a radiator with electric fans from a 4th gen might be a pretty cheap way to get a decent sports car.

Don't forget that the truck-sourced engines have a tall intake that might fit in a B-body but will probably have clearance issues in a 3rd gen F-body with a stock hood. Also, don't forget about the accessories. The truck accessory location is higher and farther forward (long water pump) which may cause issues. Also, if you want to keep A/C, you will need to move the compressor up or notch the cross member as the 3rd gens used a top-mount compressor. Also, oil pan.

The aftermarket (and GM) have solved all those problems with car-style intakes and CTS-V-style accessory drives (or 4th gen F-body-style accessory drives).