I'm assuming the answer is "no", but is there any way without popping the hood or hearing it, to tell a V6 from a V8 on the RS?

 

maybe the V6 had only one tail pipe?
that is just a guess.
kind of like the 4th gens, 6ers only had one tail pipe.
biker

 

Ah! There we go. Something I didn't think of off the top of my head. Thanks!

 

no prob

 

Apparently V8 RS' got the grid style taillights and the V6 ones got the plain ones..... The couple RS' I've seen (including my mom's) seem to prove this

 

I think the 6 banger still had two tips. I've seen plenty of 2.8s with 2 tips, but they're only about an inch in diameter or something like that. One way is just to listen to the exhaust. A lot of times I can tell a 6 from an 8 just from the tone but that's just me.

 

Not really, unless you come across a B4C, then you can tell by the 4 wheel disc brakes, dual cats and 145 MPH speedometer. Many people get surprized when I show them my car to find out it is an RS. I don't believe there is any visible clues unless you look under the car.

 

Alright, after doing some homework myself I've concluded asside from the sound, there's no way. lol Pictures of the rears show the tail lights and exhausts look identical. Oh well. Only reason I asked was to see if I could tell before I go and take a look at it tomorrow at a small dealership. I'm trying to get my brother into an F-Body.

 

Both the 3.1 V6 and 5.0 V8 have the dual tips so that method of ID doesn't work.

In '91 even the V8 RS could have the standard taillights. In '92 all V8 RSs may have gotten the grid lenses but I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure I've seen a V6 car with the grid lenses,too.

One good sign is the 16 inch alumimum Z28 wheels. If the car has the 16X8 wheels then it is a V8 RS (unless someone has since swapped them). I'm pretty sure that you could not order a V6 car with the 16X8 rims. There are some 8 cyl cars that got standard 15X7 rims(non F41 cars I believe), though so that isn't a sure-fire method either.

The only way I know to tell for sure without hearing it run or popping the hood is to check the VIN.

 

SO if you see a 91,92 RS driving by and it has 16 inch wheels then you can most likely bet it is a V8.

If you see a 91,92 RS driving by with 15 inch wheels then it's probably a 6cyl but not for sure.
????

That's what I go by.
Problem is as these things get older people change wheels and such so it's impossible to tell from the road.

 

The is a sure fire way to tell what the car was when stock.

The 8th digit on the VIN is the engine code.

H -LG4 Carb
7 -LU5 Crossfire
E -LO3 TBI
G -L69 Carb High Output
F -LB9 TPI
8 -L98 TPI 350cu

are all V8 engines..

If it has a 2, 1, S, T, or 7 then it's a V6.

Then if you go so far to popping the hood, its one hell of a small motor, even with a 3.8 L, there's enough space to stand between the rad and the engine.

 

"S" was a V8 code in the early 3rd gen and so was "7". another example, "8" used to be the vette CFI then became the vette TPI. hard to generalize, as these things change from year to year.

 

The pre 91 RS's had the older style taillights. All 91/92 RS and Z28's have the grid style lights. End of story.

 

...wrong.

I have a 1992 3.1L V6 w/ grid tail lights....
I have a friend with 5.0/305 V8 RS and it has the standard ones.

I'm not sure how they came from the factory, but I've seen a fair share of V8 cars around with only 1 tail pipe.

yes...the 16" wheels were an option available only if you ordered the V8, otherwise you were stuck with the 15"ers....so some V8s are running around with 15s too....but my V6 has 16" wheels

The only way to tell if the car was originally a V6 is by looking at the RPOs or the VIN...but then again someone could have swaped out the motor already seeing as how these cars have been around for 10+ years now....

 

the dual tips so that method of ID doesn't work. Look at the VIN # in the front. The VIN #'S i think are
8th Number in the line should be:
F- 305 Tuned Port Injected
8- 350 Tuned port Injected
E- 305 TBI
and anything else is a V6.

 

Well.....starting in 1991.....both the RS and the Z28's got the grid taillights V6's and V8's.......V6's and V8's also have dual tailpipes out the back. The difference is..... is that the 91 and 92's RS's with V6's had the 15 inch wheels and the V8's got the 16 inch wheels....just like the Z28's.