hello everyone my name is joe from Hialeah, fl
and I would like to find out a little about a car that I have just been
given by my neighbor.
the car is a 1982 Camaro Z28 with the 305 engine and the five speed
manual transmission. It is carburated (I beleive it’s a computer controlled
quadrajet).not sure though!
the car has been converted about 10 years into an 87 conertible IROC
look alike, it has been sitting for over 9 years and pretty much in need of
cosmetic and light mechanical work.
my question is what is the engine code and what the horsepower and
torque rating is, also what type of manual tranny does it have and what
bolt on replacement is out there in the market for this car (can a six speed bolt right on
to the current engine) also what type of differential does it have???

Wow, cars that are given to you are the best kind. Congrats and welcome to the boards.

convertible to boot!

I'd say if you plan alot of engine work for performance may just want to swap a bigger block in there.
I have to do engine work on mine and it's no picnic

If it's really an 82 and not an 83, and the engine is original, the 2 choices are the LU5 and LG4. With a carbed setup, it sounds like the LG4 which is rated at 145hp/240tq. The reason I say if it's still original or not an 83, is because the 5 speed wasn't available in 82. It was a 4 speed only in 82, 5 speed in 83.

where is the engines vin and through that how can I find what year it was manufactured and the engine specs?
I kind of figured that they would not come five speed in 82. in any case my plans are to start looking for an LT1 with a manual gearbox and then keep it simple with a holley 650.

If you have a look at the VIN number in the windshield, the 8th digit is the engine code. If you take down the whole number and enter it into the VIN Decoder here on this site it will give you the year and the engine type. If you want more info go to the tech data pages and look at the engine/transmission/rear end options for whichever year car it is.

but I just noticed that the vin is only 13 digits not 17, and I know this car to be a third generation 82 camaro but with 13 digits. FLA2L173295CH what site would be able to give me details on the car that will read the 13 digits????

Sounds like that the car has a reissued vin # by the state of Fla. Hence the FLA in the vin #. Sometimes when a car has been stolen and recovered or rebuilt and cannot find the titled owner then they issue another vin for it.