Not sure where I should have posted this but oh well to late now.
I have two questions.

1, How do you tell if a camaro has a 6 under the hood without actually looking under the hood?

2, How do you tell what year a 3rd gen camaro is?

 

Easy way to tell what engine the car has is by looking at the vin number near the bottom of the windshield. The 8th digit stands for the engine code. So like if its 8 than it has an L98 5.7L V8, while if its F it has an LB9 5.0L V8. And of course theres codes for all the different engines available.

As for the year you can tell that too by looking at the VIN number but i dont remember which part it is.

 

is that the only way ¿ How about telling them apart when there going down the street?

 

Hard to tell for sure if there is a 6 or an 8 under the hood unless there is an emblem, the engine is running, or the car is an IROC or Z/28 (which were all V8s except for the possibility of a few export V6 Zs).

As to the year, here are a couple of ways (there are a lot more) taillight lenses that have no black stripe on a sport coupe means 82-85. Squared off ground effects means 82-84 Z. IROC emblems means 85-90. Louvers on the hood means 85-90 Z or IROC. Tall 2 post spoiler means 91-92 Z. Bubbles (power bulges) means 91-92 Z. Exterior mounted third brake light near roof means all 86s, or some very early 87 sport coupes without rear spoiler. Third brake light in spoiler means 87-90. Third brake light mounted under glass near roof means 91-92. Ducts in gfx means 91-92.

Of course this means nothing if the car has been modified.

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'86 Camaro Sport Coupe

 

Also... easy way to tell a few other things...

82-84 ~
Different front end (front spoiler on the Z) ...
SC and Berlinettas had the clear strip on the taillights and the Z28s had the black.
82-83 Z28's had fiberglass hoods and 84 had steel (no louvers just stickers)
Like Lance said, the GFX are more squared off
The Grill on the 82-84 Z28's were smaller where the liscense plate goes... and the nose is also closed off on the bottom, not open like the 85+ (so you can take the spoiler off on the 82-84 and not have to worry about it looking too crappy)

The wheels, obviously, will be a dead giveaway up untill 90 unless they swapped up...

The Z28 wheels were on the Z28's till 90 (granted the Z28 wasn't around for a couple years... again) ... but the Z28's from 85+ had the option of getting the louvered hood, engine, etc that the IROC did...

Badges are a dead giveaway as well... unless something doesn't look right

Also on 82-84's ... the Z28s atleast, had the strips along the door (and end of fender, start of quarter panel) in 2 tone... black with the interior color on top of that... take for instance mine... its tan and my interior was also tan .... ones with red interior had red strips...

Weird I know but it happened

 

badges arent always a dead giveaway. My friend owns a 4 banger mustang, and put cobra signs on it. Also, I know somebody who wanted to make his '86 camaro an Iroc. I think it is sad. Be proud of what you drive. Also, I am pretty sure on the early camaros there are wipers for the hatch...or at least that is how it is for the birds. On the original hatch on my '83 TA there was a wiper arm. One question....are there any '91-'92 V8 RS's? I am not a camaro guy, but this guy has a nice looking black '91 or '92 RS, and he says it is a V8 but it doesnt sound like it.

 

don't all 6's only have one exhaust outlet? that's how i've always told the difference. and of course the sound

 

Jim83 ... not all 82-84 Camaro/Firebirds had the Windshield wipers... they were common though... big #'s on options... most people hate them now

And yes... there were 91-92 RS's with V8s... 305s only

 

As far as I know the v6's had two exhaust outlets (my 83 SE has two and my uncle's 87 firebird had two).

 

of course there were 91-92 RS's with V8's i have one! yup 305 TBI only though, no big performance for us rs'ers

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1991 RS LO3

Confucious say: man who stand on toilet is high on pot, confucious also say that man who go to bed with itchy butt wake up with stinky finger.

 

everytime i think of a V8 305, it reminds me of the movie of Smitty racing or whoever that was...

god...i love Vortech

 

Here are my ways that I have found to be good. First, To find out if its a 3rd gen, look at the headlights, 1st and 2nd gens have round lights, 3rd and 4th gen have square. Then if you can't tell if its a 3rd or 4th look at the body style, 3rd is boxy and 4th is roundy.

As far as the year I can tell to some key things. If it has a 3rd brakelight then is 86-92. then from 87 the brakelight was in the spoiler. 87-88 different wheels 86-87 one line in the spokes while 88-92 (if I am not mistaken) had 2 lines in each spoke.

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86 IROC-Z
K&N air filters, Air foil, hypertech chip, Edelbrock victor Jr. Heads

soon: 6-speed, rebuild 305, exhaust, fiberglass body.

[This message has been edited by IROC-Z4ever (edited June 15, 2001).]

 

V6s can have two tailpipes, but look at the size of them. The V8s have larger tailpipes..

If it's a 91/92 and has 15 inch wheels, it's a V6.

 

i remember seeing a 1991 305 with 15 inch wheels.......the higher wheels were an option on RS's


my question is......were you able to get the higher 91 wheels on V-6's???

 

IROC-Z4EVER...what the hell are you talking about? i would hope that you could tell a 1st gen from a 3rd gen besides the headlights..isn't the 20+ years of styling difference a dead giveaway?
-pat

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Red '92 Rallysport V6 w/Heritage Package
K&N Filter
Cold Air Intake

 

i'm not willie but I'll share my knowledge
camaro-wise, v6 camaros usually are dual exit mufflers, the stock one on my maro had dual eixts on the drivers side. usually they are 2" exits, 2 1/4" inlets.

to tell a top of the line z/iroc from a diff year...
82-83 the hood will be SMC similar to fiberglass it's called sheet molded compound.
tires were P215/65R15

82&83 v.s. 84
steel hood. older ground effects, taillights have a black strip.

84 v.s. 85
tpi z/iroc 5500 redline new nose and ground effects. new grid style taillights. z28's striping changed. iroc got 16" wheels. z/28's didn't get foglamps.

85 v.s. 86
basically the same visually, 86 TPI's got a weaker cam w/ a 5000 redline, late 86's got a 145 mph speedo, they had a hatch mounted CHMSL. foglamps standard on iroc optional on all models. (SC and Z/28 at least) all tpi models still automatic irocs got P245/50vr16 size tires

86 vs 87
350 debuted only in automatic (all 350 equipped thru 92 were auto) CHMSL moved to spoiler, 305 tpi got better cam back, but only in 5-speed models. 305 tpi could now be equipped with 5 speed. z/28's finally got speed rated tires. they were P235/60VR15. only 4 sold. the rest were still 215/65R15 however, the size 235/60(add speed rating here)R15 is new a popular upgrade size for owners on 15" wheels on their f-bodies.

87 vs 88
z/28 dropped. new wheels for iroc (optional, standard was z/28's 15" wheels) new striping for iroc (colors flipped), IROC-Z door decal moved to back of door. sport coupe got z/28 body styling, 85-87 iroc striping, and z/28 wheels. lowest v8 motor was now fuel injected, carburation was dropped. VR rated tires replaced with ZR rated

88 vs 89
somebody help me out, basically the same for top end models.

89 vs 90
same here 90 was a short year, chevy's contract w/ iroc ran out on dec. 31, 1989 ('89 right?) so they couldn't made any irocs after that date. new rounder interior debuted.

90 vs. 91
z/28 is back with new ground effects, new grille, new spoiler, new wheels, and the hood louvers were replaced with "power bulges" chmsl was moved to the inside of the hatch. v6 models on the RS didn't get the 16" wheels by the way. only v8 models got them, but they were optional on the v8 RS, and standard on the z/28, just to clear that up. RS's w/ the 16" wheels got P235/55R16 tires, and the Z/28 got P245/50ZR16's

91 vs. 92
speedo needles orange instead on yellow as in the 90-91 models. 25th anniversary badges were on all models, on the Heritage package equipped models, it was more apparent, as they had more 25th anniversary badging, and the obvious was the hood and decklid stripes, that mimicked the striping of the 1st gen and early 2nd gen camaros.

I think that should cover most of everything. I think Willie needs to jump in here and wade through my post and verify all that I have stated, plus he has offically documented proof of everything plus he has the showroom brochures from 82-92

whewwwwwwww.

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--- 1988 Camaro Sport Coupe ---
2.8 V6, TCI 3200 Stall TC, B&M Transkit, Flowmaster & Catback (No Cat)
CFI Z/28 Hood, '87 16" IROC Wheels, Bowtie Grille, IROC Gauges, IROC Taillights,
IROC Foglamps w/ 9005 hi-beam bulbs
Heritage Style Hood and Decklid Stripes

 

The heritage package only had the deck stripes and the sticker on the spoiler. They were supposed to have a sticker on the hood by one of the headlights, but they were never included. There's even a picture of the hood sticker in the manual.

 

Badges mean exactly nothing. I have a 86Z now, on the right side of the rear bumper cover it has the Z28 sticker. Nothing wrong here, factory applied and original. On the other side it has a nice "2.8 Multiport Fuel-Injection" badge. WTF? Ok, so it was wrecked at some point in it's life. But doesnt anyone with half a brain know that you couldn't get a V-6 Z28? And yes it is a Z28, I've run the VIN.

 

somebody must have put it there. the '88 maros with 2.8's don't have that 2.8 multiport f/i badge, only pre '88 models had that (no ground effects.) badging. someone must have done that to your car

[This message has been edited by SlowCamaro88SC (edited July 02, 2001).]

 

I suppose my turbo charged v8 305 with holley preformance upgrades are a joke <<crying>> I love my 305.

 

well, anyways, in a few dayz my v6 RS will have the Z28 wheels.........does that mean more mudstangs are gonna chase me???

 

It's an 86 Z28
I figured that someone put it there
Can we say "stupid body shop?"

 

must be a dumb shop. I didn't think that badge could go on that bumper, but it must if it's on your car.

and 1991tealRSt-topguy I gotta let you in on a little secret. your car already has Z/28 wheels. I'm assuming you are upgrading to 16" wheels?