ok i have gone to web-sites and looked up my vin number and today i went to buy insurance for my car and they all tell me the same thing that its a 1988 Camaro RS but i the person that sold it to me said it was a 1988 Camaro Sport Coupe 5.0 305. how can i tell if i have a 350 or 305 or find out what exact type of engine i have under the hood.?.?.?...

 

The RS was the same thing as the "Sport Coupe" in earlier years; the base model. Not a significant difference, in terms of what you got vs what was claimed.

THe VIN will only tell you what motor was installed at the factory, won't tell what's in it now. The ONLY reliable way to be certain what it is, is the block casting number. This is conveniently located in an easily accessible area: the top of the bell housing flange, behind the driver's side head.



Looks something like this.

All you need is the last 3 digits; they are sufficiently unique to positivey identify the block. Since it's impossible to make a 305 into a 350, it will unambiguously differentiate between those 2.

Beyond that, it's possible For ANYBODY to take ANY block, put ANY pistons of a HUGE variety into it (the 350 especially, the 305 not so much, there are only a very few types available), bolt ANY heads onto it, and slide in ANY cam, and create a totally unique motor. NO "codes" will tell you any of those things. You just have to take it apart and check, and even then, it can be pretty tough to positively identify alot of the parts. Heads are easy though; their casting number is under the valve covers, among the rocker arms.

There is a stamping code on the block deck, on a little pad sort of place that sticks out, in front of the pass side head. That has 2 parts: first part tells what application the BLOCK came in originally, which of course tells NOTHING about what other parts are currently associated with it; the 2nd part is the last 7 digits of the VIN of the vehicle it was in. If that part matches the car's VIN, then odds are, it's still pretty much the motor that came in the car. No guarantees, but odds are good. More often than not, if the original block is still there, then so is everything else original.

Get those numbers and we can make a fair guess at what you've got.

 

350 was not offered in the RS cars, so that helps, although someone could have swapped in a 350, but I doubt the previous owner would tell you it's a 305 when it's a 350.

1988 was the first year of the LO3 305 TBI setup in the RS cars, so if it's an 8 cylinder engine chances are that's what it is. Looks like a carbed car, but the 'carb' is actually a throttle body injection (TBI) unit with 2 fuel injectors inside.

But, the only way to know for sure is to check the block ID numbers as described above.