I found an old book, 'Consumer Guide 1987 Cars.' In there it shows two different LG4s for the 'birds (1 for Camaro), a 155 hp version and a 165 hp that is standard in the TA. Anyone know what the difference is? What did the Formula get?

 

I belive the Formula, IROC, Z28 got the same engine as the T/A, 165hp...

and probably The Base Camaro and Base Firebird got the 155 hp engine...

Of course there very well may be no difference in the engines, it could even be the difference in the rear axel ratios that constituted a higher HP rating.

honestly the HP was so low on that engine that no one could tell the 10 hp difference and it was probably all an advertising gimmic.

John

 

Were different size exhaust pipes and cats out that year? I believe the L69 had larger stuff than the LG4 in earlier years.

 

Yes L69 cars got Corvette "wide-mouth" cats as well as something like 2.75" exhaust. Far better than the 2.25" stuff the LG4 was choked up with......


Will

 

I believe the topic here is the 1987 LG4. I do know that some publications show two different horsepower ratings in the 1987 Camaro, 165hp and 170hp. Supposedly, the Sport Coupe got the 165hp variant, while the Z28/IROC-Z received the 170hp version. However, I cannot find any technical specifications for this year that spells out the difference, even in the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association (MVMA) specifications form for 1987 Chevrolet Motor Division passenger cars.

Note: The L69 was discontinued in 1986 (only 74 Z28's got it) and not available in 1987 Camaros.

 

That is interesting. Just like the TPI cars. Pontiac has supposedly robbed their TPI cars of hp with a restrictive intake. I was not aware the LG4 had a different intakes as well.

 

I thought both the pontiac and Chevrolet versions got the same aircleaner and snorkle...

John

 

They did, the tpi units got different intake systems. Back in those days though GM played around alot, and some LG4's came out with factory aluminum intake manifolds. Mine did. An 86. I was surprised but thought it was kind of cool. I dunno what type of difference it made if any at all.....

Will

 

my 87 also came with an aluminum intake... I think it might have been to make the weight of the car the same as the TPI cars so they would not need different front springs...

John

 

i s ee where you are going with the whole weight thing, but what difference would that make. the LG4 was around 3 years before the first tpi ever sat in a camaro. It would be the other way around. I think it was more of a last attempt at performance, something to talk about, mine has one and yours doesn't type thing. Save a little weight here.

Will

 

When GM developed the TPI engine for the Corvette it was originally going to be a 305 Fortunately GM, Chevrolet for that matter, decided to go with the 350 in the Vette, and the Camaro & firebird got the 305 Version. Since this was technically a "high performance" engine, they probably wanted to keep the weight down, and since they were making the castings for the Vette, why not use the same casting for the F-body, and not go with the heavier Iron intake.

Its just a guess, but I would think that would be one of the reasons for it, Although I have seen Caprice's with the Aluminum intake for 86 & 87 in the salvage yards... go fig...

John

 

Well, I doubt the Chev and Pont received different manifolds that year. That is not a usual spot for differences. I doubt there were any significant physical differences. Was probably just more of the typical GM marketing bias.