ok i bought an 1989 iroc-z V8 TBI a while back.. has no RPO codes.. its been painted so the iroc decals are no longer visible but the iroc logos are on the car..
but here is the problem

everyone says that it cant be an iroc since its got 15inch rims

and i already know the base iroc came with a TBI so that part is eliminated

is there anyother way to find out if im right or wrong???

 

Yes, '89 IROCs were available with 15 inch wheels and TBI. There's not too many of them out there but they do exist. Without the RPO codes it's a little tougher to figure out but there's a few things you can look for on the car that should give you a good indication if it's an IROC or not. The dash badge and rocker emblems should both say IROC but those are simple to change and the most common was of somebody trying to make a fake IROC. An IROC should have a "wonderbar" on the front along with a 34 mm sway bar. Those are a couple parts that probably wouldn't get changed over if somebody was trying to fake an IROC. An IROC also would have gotten an IROC front grill with driving/fog lights and would have the "grid" style tailights. While that's definitely not everything, it's some easy things you can check to give you a better idea if you have a real IROC or not.

 

hate to sound dumb but what is a "wonderbar"?? and about the front grill i know that part of the car is not original since i could tell it was in a front end wreak the hood is white underneath(also without the louvers) and u can tell where the bondo is on the fenders the bumber looks to be orginal but i doubt it.

 

The wonderbar is an extra brace mounted along with the front sway bar. An IROC hood is also a good sign it's a real IROC. Also, if you enter your VIN number into the VIN decoder it may tell you if it's an IROC or not.

 

Light blue or medium gray original paint hiding anywhere would eliminate it from being an IROC.

They are codes 23 or 87. Possibly stamped somewhere? Not sure if they had those tags for that year

 

well i decoded the vin and it does come up as a 1989 iroc-Z

and for the colors its red for sure ive gutted the whole car and the body is red all around..

Thanks for the help guys.

now i just got to figure out if i should convert my 86 Z-28 to an iroc-z or if i should repair the 89 iroc with the 86 parts.. LOL


Which would be worth more??? the iroc or z28?

 

That's hard to say without knowing more about the cars. Normally I would say an IROC is worth more but a 305 TBI IROC with 15 inch wheels isn't exactly a desirable car. If the '86 Z28 is a TPI car I would says that's the more desirable car. If it's a carbureted car neither car is really more desirable than the other.

 

well the 86 z-28 was a tpi car automatic when i found it in a field it had logos of a hotrod looking car signitures of al unser jr. and it was an silver bullet edition.. i havent done much except remove the rear hatch louvers removed the exhast(cats n muffler were clogged) removed the panel with the al unser logos converted to a carb set up(since the TPI had numerous vacuum leaks and wouldnt idle also wiring was chewed up by mice or somethin) paint is faded and peeling with spots that is totally metal(surface rust) Body is solid and has no dents

and the iroc-z as i said when i bought it the paint was great but the front end was completely amature repaired with bondo and prolly junkyard parts unibody is straigh luckly.. was lowered so the underside is dented so bad... the engine was shot since i put more than a 100k on it made it cross country round trip and was a daily driverhas t5 set up ready to go


now im just stuck with a question of which car to build..

 

Could just sell both, then buy an IROC in better shape with a lb9 m5 combo or l98. my .02

 

wouldnt know where to sell em.. im in a very rural area and i wouldnt know what price to put em at either

 

Some may disagree, but I think an 85-87 Z28 with the TPI would be a desirable car as most people either opted for the IROC-Z at that point or just trashed the Z28 because it wasn't the top of the line. How many 85-87 Z28s have you seen at car shows or even on the web these days? Someday, I will own an 87 Z28 in mint condition. Most people have already repainted them to look like an IROC-Z, so finding it will be part of the fun.

 

Sinse I did not find an answer to one of your questions...

In 1988 thru 1990 there was no Z28 without the IROC. Basically if you ordered an IROC or a Z28 you got the Z28/IROC. I suspect 15" Rims were standard for the LO3 & LB9/A4, but optional 16" were available. The 16" rims were standard on the 350 (L98) and probably the LB9/M5 cars...



John

 

well this will make your mind twist.. both the z28 and the iroc has the wonderbar??????

im thinking because the z28 is the so called al unser jr silver bullet edition??? im not so sure

 

The Z28 shouldn't have a wonderbar. Only the IROCs got them. However, it's not really a hard part to add. I'd definitely say the Z28 is the better car of the two since it's a TPI car.

 

yeah im leaning toward the z28 since ill be the 2nd owner rather than the 4th or 5th for the iroc

 

In 1989 the 15" wheels were stantard on all irocs, even the 350s. In my brochure it states, "For the ultimate in IROC-Z appearence, 16" alluminum wheels and eagle unidirectional tires are optional"

 

The 15" rim is the standard rim for the IROC-Z in 1989, however, it was not the standard rim for the 350 built cars, or the LB9 with G92. The 16" rim was standard for those models.

 

Ok the whole standard but optional thing was screwing me up lol. So when you ordered a l98 or G92 u automatically got the 16s? But you could also specially order a non g92 car with 16s?

 

All L98's SHOULD have had the G92, there are a few out there without it, ones that I have seen were usually from Canada...

John

 

is the g92 a camaro rpo code only? because none of my trans am's have gotten this code

 

Thru 1986 I think G92 was much like the Camaros, on the Trans Am's it was the performance axel option. Starting in 1987 however, Pontiac went a little different direction. Basically Every Formula and GTA with the L98 or the LB9/M5 Got the G92 options without the RPO. (there are some exceptions especially on exproted cars) But for the US market it appears to ring true.

The LB9/M5 on Trans Am's however did not always have the Performance Axel, but I want to believe that most if not all L98 cars did have the 3.27 or 3.23. Very few or no US destined cars came with the 2.77 or 2.73 Axel when the L98 was ordered.

The G92 was ultimately reserved for the 1LE cars for Firebirds. Basically if you orderd G92 for a Firebird after 1987 you had to order AC delete.

However they did offer a R6P (?? I forget the exact RPO) option for Trans Am's that consisted of a performance axel on the LB9/M5 cars later on...

Make sence???

 

I have to agree with you here...IROCs far outnumber the 85-87 Z28s and i also feel most have been painted single color 'cause its cheaper and looks like a IROC clone.
I've owned 3 Z28s and like the look over the IROC. Barely missed an 87 Z28 which was yellow with silver trim and grey interior. Sold just before i got there. Restoring an 86 black/silver z28 new. Post pics when finished.

 

so what your saying is IROCS were painted a single color??? no two tone???
i dont understand the color deals now?

 

IIRC, the Iroc's were like the GTA, mono color only, the ground effects were not a different color.

 

The IROC-Z came with a monochromatic paint scheme. The GFX matched the body color and was seperated by a 2 color stripe with black being the most common of the two. Some IROC-Zs do have a different color stripe combo, like the white cars with the silver and yellow stripe. The Z28 was most common with the GFX being silver. The stripes that seperated the body from GFX were a multi colored stripe. The hood was the same and the headlight buckets were painted black on both cars. A lot of people would remove the Z28 stripes and paint the GFX the same color as the body, add IROC-Z decals and it would look like they have an IROC-Z.

 

Scott,
I am on the fence about whether or not the Z28 will be worth more than an IROC. On the one hand, I see your point, on the other I have to consider that in 1987 specifically I do not believe that the Z28 was available with the L98... THAT would be a collector car IMHO to have an original L98 Z28 (non-Iroc). In 1986 & 1985, was the Z28 (non IROC) available with the LB9??? or was it like 1987 and the L98?

Everything that I see, Performance goes a long way for adding value or collectability...

As for hard to find cars, I am finding similar things with the Trans Am or GTA and the Formula, there are fewer nice Formulas than the GTA or Trans Am's because the Formula was generally trashed because it was not as expensive new. However I am not sure if the Formula will ever outprice the GTA, even though I know of several people that prefer the Formula over the TA or GTA.

John

 

The Z28 was not available with the L98 in 1987. You could get it with the LB9 auto (85-86) or 5 speed (87). Not saying this as a general comment that Zs wll be worth more than an IROC-Z, but in this case, the TPI based Z carries more performance and desirability than the base IROC-Z he has. If I had both, I would fix up the Z28. I don't think you can go wrong with a Z28 or an IROC-Z. They are both considered top-of-the-line Camaros. The IROC-Z during these years was just another option on the Z28 anyway making it the ultimate Z28. In 1989, the Z28 was the IROC-Z and vice versa. The IROC-Z option became standard.

There is a good chance that a Formula will outprice the GTA only because of the performance aspect. The Formula would be similar to the ZL1 Camaro in that it had the biggest motor (in the Formula 350) available those years, with minimum weight because of options. The GTA was a very bloated Firebird with performance, but the weight held it back. I don't like using Ford as an example, but look at the 5.0 Mustang LX. It was faster and lighter than the GT, so it became the popular choice for Police and drag racers. The value of the Formula 350 will more than likely be comparable to the GTA as the cars get older. I personally would rather have a Formula 350 than a GTA only because of the bloated aspect.

 

Great information Scott....the 85-87 Z28 could be ordered with the LB9 or LG4 (Standard engine) in 85-86-87. Interesting part though is the Z28 during these years could be ordered with mulitple color combinations.
While the IROCs were limited to specific mono paint schemes, the Z28 could be ordered any color with either charcoal, gold or silver colors for the lower spoilers and rims. This created some strange combos. Like white with charcoal lower accents/wheels....dark blue with gold....yellow with gold accents, red with gold, etc.
1985 and 86 also were cool years because there were no option packages so camaros during these years can have random options installed. I haven't seen a non-IROC Z28 (85-87) with power mirrors. I'm sure they exist, i just haven't seen any.
Years ago, i did run across a black/silver Z28 with the LB9/5 speed T-top combo. Man, wish i had that car today!

 

just pay the 20 bucks and run a carfax on it. that will tell you exactly what you have. plus, dont worry too much about it, fix it and drive it! i have an 86 iroc and they are considered to be the arm pit of the third gens, but i love this car.
it handles well, it's very fast. plus, i have the satisfaction of knowing i rebuilt it and i saved it from being crushed!

 

nice information thanks..

 

I want to think there was some limits to what color combination's you could make. For example, I do not believe that the Yellow with a Gold accent was available. But there was a Yellow with Charcoal, like the 1987 & 8 Formula and a Yellow with silver...

John

 

Believe it or not, the yellow with gold was available on the Z28. I can't say that it was my favorite combo, but was available.

 

I have never seen one... interesting, do you have a pic?

John

 

yeah, i've seen a few yellow with gold spoilers/wheels Zs as well. Not sure about the yellow and charcoal. There was also a silver accent which was much lighter in hue than charcoal and it was on most of the yellow z28s in these years.

The three accent colors were charcoal (dark grey) - silver (light shiny grey) and gold. Each had it's own unique strips above spoiler and the wheels matched.

I don't recall ever seeing anything about Z28 color combination restrictions. However, i have never seen a grey Z with gold accents, etc. But perhaps they existed.