Hi all, newbie here... I have a 1987 Z27 (special dealership package from Calgary, Alberta). I've owned her since '91 and have just decided to get her back in shape. I'm on a rebuilt engine (7000kms), but have 320000kms on the original 5spd tranny. Body in great shape, but faded as hell and interior showing some wear. Set to get it repainted GM Tornado Red with metallic black on the bottom up to top of decal line. My first problem is that my rear spoiler is warped from the sun (it's made of high-density black foam-type material). I can't find a similar spoiler anywhere and it kinda gives my car part of its personality. Has anyone ever come across such a thing?

 

I have another question for ya - now that I've made the decision to ramp 'er back up to looking like the solid car she is, I, of course start dreaming... When I bought 'er back in '91, I was a student who thought she was being smart getting a V6 so she could save on gas. I'm no longer a student, and no longer wish to be smart about this. I want to put some ***** in this car. Can anybody give me a ballpark on what I am looking at to upgrade the engine? I have heard that you can't just swap out a V6 for a V8 and that it would involve redoing the rear differential. Idk what that even means. Is the V6 base the same as the V8, or would I be looking at way more than just an engine swap? Even if that's the case, as stated above, I'm no longer being smart about this, so do you have any suggestions or experiences? If I had a nickel for every time somebody has said 'wow, cool Camaro, is it an IROC?' followed by silence after my reply that it is sadly a lowly V6. Sometimes they even say 'Oh, I'm sorry'. Yep, me too...

 

If you want a V8 sell the V6 car and buy a V8 car.

Post some pics, I've never heard of this package, be interested to see it.

 

Here r some pics...

 

never seen that spoiler before

 

Well you have two options on this... you can just restore that one back to its original stock look with a mere couple of thousand dollars for sentimental values(amount rough guess)... and/or buy another one that's a V8 so you don't have to swap out too many things...

 

Yeah, that's where I'm gonna be stupid. I've had the thing for so long that it just wouldn't feel right to 'trade up'. I know it's just a V6, but I love that car, so V6 it is for as long as it will have me... I'm really looking forward to it being repainted and fixing a few things inside. I'll think it's a new car again...

 

I know how you feel...I am on my 3rd Camaro... my first one was an '88 V6 2.8L and I sold it to my best friend after he had crashed his '89 IROC on the freeway trying to avoid furniture falling out of a truck... In '99 I bought my '92 305 5.0 and I felt I needed more power... coincidently one of my other close friends I had helped build his Camaro, offered to sell me and only me his '89 IROC because he wanted to get a '99 SS... Now I have two, the latest one with a 383 Stroker and a Tremec TKO 600...

 

Hey... Is GNR in your name reference GUNS N ROSES???

 

Welcome to TGO.

Read up on the engine swap forum for every question you could ask. Plenty of people have gone 6 to 8, but its not the cheapest easiest thing to do. You'll need to get the engine, transmission, posi rear end, probably a stronger driveshaft, v8 front springs, new motor mounts, radiator, instrument cluster, wiring, computer, and so on....

The cheapest bet for 250 - 300 horsepower seems to be the turbo route. I'm still gathering parts, but so far I've spent a lil over $200 and it seems I'll spend about $450 total for a setup that should do 250-ish hp. That's not bad, and it's cheaper than a L98 swap.

As for the spoiler, do you know what deal did the installation? Might be a good start. Also, if you like the look but don't care about being factory correct, look around ebay until you find something that is close. I bet there are plenty of generic spoilers on ebay for cheap, maybe even something close to what ya have on there.

Oh, and nice hair.

 

GNR 4ever! My loyalty to my boy Axl is only surpassed by my loyalty to Chevys... I actually considered getting my car repainted with the GNR bullet logo on the hood. (My friends have threatened to disown me on this one - guess I'll just hafta ink on myself!)

 

HAH.. that's awesome... I am a GNR fan myself... Well I tatted a bow tie on right fore arm and Chevy pistons on my left! find my URL: LiveChevy4Life!

 

What did the 87 SC & LT spoiler look like?

 

You have two three options:

Option A: V8 swap. VERY expensive especially if you are not doing the work yourself. By the fact that you have no idea what a differential is (no offense), I will presume you aren't.

Option B: Sell the V6 car, toss the cash into a savings account and allow it to accumulate some then buy an L98 car. Probably not the best option seeing as how long you've had yours for. We tend to get attached to these big clunky pieces of metal

Option C: Turbo. Turbo is a great option for the 6 cylinder third gens. You can make decent power (250 - 400 on stock block I BELIEVE) without breaking the bank in comparison to a V8 swap. AND you get to keep your sentimental car.

 

You know where you aaaaare!? You're in the jungle baaaaaaby! You're gonna DIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Sorry couldn't resist

 

For the spoiler, you said it's high density foam? If you took it off, could you flex it back into shape? If so, you may be able to make another one out of fiberglass; you can use yours to make a mold. Search on google.com for: fiberglass mold making

I guess if you couldn't flex it back into shape to make a perfect mold, you could always mold it as-is, and then fix the mold... or fix the product that comes out of the mold!

And for the engine swap, yes, for all the parts you'll need, it's easier and cheaper to buy a v8 car (with all the parts/wiring/etc) and swap everything into your car. Of course it's easiest to buy a second car that's a v8- and keep both.

 

Thats a very odd spoiler. Is that what the z27 option is about? Or something else?

 

You know, it doesn't have to be as clearcut as v8 or stick with a stock v6, you could certainly modify it enough to put out as much as any of the stock v8 3rd gens do. You should take a look at my sticky in v6 section, maybe it can help you find a happy medium.

Personally not a fan of the spoiler, but then the picture is a bit distorted so maybe thats what I don't like about it...sadly I have no idea how to repair such a thing, and finding a replacement would be very unlikely, you're probably limited to living with it, buying a regular factory type spoiler(it won't look the same, but imo, the 3 piece ones look great on the maros.) or you could maybe have a fiberglass shop or some place duplicate it for you, but that would be big cash.
Also are those door guards part of the package? I don't recall ever seeing door guards on a 3rd gen. Btw a firebird wraparound spoiler is sort of similar to yours in shape, but without being a pedestal mounted type...

 

My first car, '87 2.8, had those same door strips. In fact, other than being white it looked just like that. Aside from the odd spoiler of course. Verrry suspicious looking. Wasn't a z27 a Beretta or a Cavalier?

Oops, there I go digging up threads again. Gotta watch myself.

 

You're thinking of both the Z26 and Z34... I'm not going to post which is which because I've forgotten, but I think the Cavvy is the Z34...

And yes, DEAD POST...

 

Beretta: Z26


Z34 Lumina:


Z24 Cavi: