I recently bought an 86 IROC and it actually has the externally mounted rear brake light as referenced for the 350 of that year (of which only like 50 were made). I highly doubt it actually has the 350 L98 engine, but how can I determine for sure what engine is in it?

 

Not sure where you heard the 3rd brake light designated the 350. The 3rd brake light was a federally mandated requirement for 1986. All 1986 and newer cars have them. Having it on the rear glass was only 86 for the IROC-Z. As for the engine, I can guarantee that if the car is original, it has the LB9 or the LG4. If it looks like a carb setup, then it's an LG4. If it has the TPI setup with dual air intake, then you have the LB9. There were no 350s in 1986.

 

lol No, 1986 was the only year camaros (all of them, irocs, Z28s, sport coupes, etc) had the 3rd brake light on the rear window. That's the biggest way to distinguish them.
If you want to know your engine size, check the RPO codes in the center console.

Actually, there were 50 5.7 irocs made. Those were mainly for testing though. The 350 wasn't offered in the iroc until 87.
I'm sure a couple of those rare 86 350s are on the road, but I didn't see the RPO code for that engine for that year.

Here's a great site to research 3rd gen codes, if you didn't know already. This is the link to the "about 86 camaros":
http://www.camarosource.ca/php/camar....php?year=1986

 

Aah, that makes sense... the wording of the article at https://www.thirdgen.org/1986-chevy-camaro confused me. I thought it meant that was the distinguishing mark for the 305's... At least I knew it was a stupid question

There WERE, however, 50 made... and I doubt they got crushed so they must be out there somewhere...

As to the RPO codes, I would have checked them but the sticker isn't there... it is an IROC Z with TPI injection and an automatic transmission tho, so that pretty much tells me it's the 305 LB9 yes?

 

Actually, there were 3 V8 options for Irocs that year. 2 Carb motors (the lg4 or low output, as I fondly call it) and the L69, the high output. I don't know how to tell ya how to figure out which it is if it;s a carb. I'm new to the carb v8 world. lol
If it's a tpi, then you have LB9.
But good luck, and congrats on the new car!

 

Every last one of them was crushed. Not a single one made it into the public's hands.

 

That sucks. I've heard so much debate on that one, whether or not they made it into the public.
Learn something new everyday.

 

If you read how I worded that, I stated that the 3rd brake light was mounted on the rear window for the IROC-Z in 1986 only. In 87, MOST Camaros had it relocated to the rear spoiler, IROC-Z included. But if there wasn't a rear spoiler on the car in 87, guess where the light went! Since we are also talking about an 86 IROC-Z and not other Camaro models, my original statement was correct and accurate. "Having it on the rear glass was only 86 for the IROC-Z."

There are not 50 86 350s out there somewhere. If there were 50 made, they are all crushed. As prototype cars, they are not street legal and can't be sold to the public to be driven. On a forum of about 50k members, no one has yet proven the existance of an 86 350.

There were 3 engine options, however, since only 74 L69s were produced in 86, I doubt this car is one of them leaving the LB9 or the LG4 as the 2 most common engine options.

 

Opps, sorry. I didn't think of that, if it didn't have a rear spoiler, where it went since it was a requirement by law.
I'm new, obviously. I mainly only know what I read researching Irocs, before I got mine.

 

Wow. I have a dream... A dream where someday people stop believing the 50 1986 L98 Iroc's myth...

Someone should go around to every history write up and petition to have that tidbit removed. They MIGHT have existed at one time, as prototypes for emissions testing, etc but they wouldn't have been titled, and would have never been sold due to liability. GM probably crushed them or recycled the parts through to other test operations, like crash testing.

 

You could, but then someone would just dig up one of the magazine articles where the press was allowed to test drive those cars on a closed track, and the whole thing would start over again. Kind of like the rumors that the 9 bolt was going to be stronger than the Dana 44.

 

The stack of broken 9-bolts kind of disproves that statement.

 

Doesn't seem to stop anyone from parroting 25 year old rumors and heresay, though.

I bet GM has every one of those 50 cars hiding away in storage alongside the 1983 Corvettes, to be presented to our new rulers on the day when the ***** spring forth from their secret base on the dark side of the moon build with captured alien UFO technology to attack with an array of Nikola Tesla's death ray canons and enslave the human race.

 

Considering how badly cluster-****ed the tech data is these days, it's really no wonder that no one can figure out what the hell it's trying to say. Since it started out as a 1967-1994 examination, with each years details building upon the previous years details, and now it's chopped into one year at a time, it's completely retarded and pointless. Someone needs to jiggle the handle, wait till the tank is full, and give it a good solid flush. Time to dump that hackjob and start from scratch.

/soapbox.

 

L69 HOs had a dual snorkel intake...LG4s had a single drivers side sorkel.

 

A friend of my dad knew an executive at GM, and he ordered an aluminum 427 tri-power drivetrain in his '86 IROC. The RPO sheet contains an entry that reads "BBC", as in big block Chevy. He's thinking of taking it to BJ next year, but is arguing about not being able to set a $100K reserve.

Mike M

Okay, we all know that is BS ... But it's still a great story

 

LOL...That is a good story Mike.And it is somewhat true to the point,as you probably know,GM built/builds test mules for emissions,safety,feasibility and durability testing in house and also to be sent to the EPA,DOT and NHTSA.But as Scottmoyer pointed out most of those are either crushed or destroyed in the various test.One can only imagine what the engineers come up with that we never see.

On the original motor in a '86 IROC check the eighth digit of the VIN; H = LG4 305 carb,G = L69 305 HO carb(only 74 listed as built in '86) or F= LB9 305 TPI.

 

feel free to ask about any thing at this forum
and remeber
there are no stupid questions
only stupid people