Hey guys

Im checking out a 5.7L IROC
Is there anything i should look for, besides what I know what ot look for in a TBI engine..
anything really different?

 

this is my 5.7 out of my 88 IROC. this is an old pic but will show you the basics. to look at both 5.0 & 5.7 engines they are visually the same. 5.7 auto's has the square shifter. they also have the 5500 rpm redline opposed to the 5.0's 5000. one way of telling is by running the vin to be sure. another would be to look on the drivers side towards the rear of the block. look on the top(right by the head) and it is stamped 5.0L or 5.7L. that's a bitch to get to though.

 

sometimes dealers and privite sellers say there is a 350 in the car and its really a 305. take a look at the engine compartment real well, if you see big scrathces in the carpartment on the paint then chances are the engine has been pulled. look for bolts that dont look the same as others on the same parts. just take a long time to look at the engine and entire car. take it to your mechanic and have him put it on the lift and check out the underside. look for rust and missing parts. look at the starter. if it has a small solieniod then chances are it is a 305 and if the solieniod is big then it is a 350. not sure if it mattered on that year though. look for factory spot welds on the radiator support and wherever there is a weld. see if it is factory or body shop quality.

 

How sure are you?

And the vin/shifter aren't such good ways to tell considering how easy the shifter is to change, (not to mention my friend has a V6 with a square shifter) the vin doesn't mean a thing if the engine was swapped.

 

i know that vin, shifter, and redline dont mean much if the engine has been swapped out. another would be to pull the valve cover off and check the head casting #'s. that's why i suggested the PITA method to take a look back there. just in case some one swapped out the engine, tpi_roc .

 

Not always true. My '85 with a 305 TPI has a 5500 red line.

~M~

 

305s & 350's both had square shift *****, not that it would tell you anything on a 10+ year old car that could very well be monkeyed with. The square **** goes with the leather wrapped steering wheel found on most Z-28s & Irocs.

 

Please disregaurd most of mysticals ways of telling if its a 350

jk

If you're fairly positive the car is absolutely stock, an easy area to pull numbers from is the injectors, then refference those to see what lb/hr they are, which will tell you if its a 305/350. Other than that pulling block numbers is about the only way.