MY coworker who isnt a chevy fan, picked up a very sweet like new 1987 iroc.--The orig owner said it had the corvette option for eng, --I never heard such a thing, is this just talk or was thier some kind of option aval

 

What the owner was probably getting at is that it's a TPI car. Technically the Corvette L98 was never offered in the thirdgen platform.

 

its got a 350 instead of a 305

 

The 350 engine in the Camaro was similar to the Corvette engine, but it was not the Corvette engine. They are both L98s, both TPI and other similarities. That's why people say it's a Vette engine. GM detuned the Camaro engine and used different components so that the Camaro wouldn't be faster than the Vette. No Vette engine was factory installed in any 3rd gen Camaro.

 

The average ignorant thirdgen owner will call any TPI engine the "Corvette engine". They don't know the difference between the 305 and 350, most just assume it's a 350. The other fun one is "It's gotta LT1" and when you run the VIN you find the F and the stock 305 under the hood.

Most of the parts that are different on a Corvette L98 either wouldn't fit in a F-body, or they'd drive the price up. I don't know how accurate it is to say it's detuned, it's just different to meet the needs of the car.