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May 27, 2023

Why The 1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC

GM dropped the Corvette's 350 cu. in. V8 into the IROC-Z but the Mustang GT still left it in the dust. The insightful Steve Magnante tells us why. In the early 1980s, the muscle car competition

GM dropped the Corvette's 350 cu. in. V8 into the IROC-Z but the Mustang GT still left it in the dust. The insightful Steve Magnante tells us why.

In the early 1980s, the muscle car competition between the Chevrolet Camaro and the Ford Mustang heated up. Buyer demand for more fuel-efficient cars increased following the previous decade's oil crises.

As a result, Chevy lightened the Camaro by 500 lbs. And in 1985, the automaker sweetened the deal by offering the IROC-Z performance package, with the Corvette's 350 cu. in. V8 option becoming available in 1987.

This sleeker, faster Camaro should have been able to definitively settle the dispute between the Bow Tie and the Blue Oval 3rd-gen muscle cars. But, as YouTuber Steve Magnante explains in the video, there's more to this story than engine displacement.

On a junkyard crawl in Bernardston, Massachusetts, Magnante talks about what made the Chevy Camaro IROC-Z competitive. For example, its 350 cu. in. V8, identical to that of the Corvette, made 250 hp and an impressive 330 lb-ft of torque.

The Australian Borg-Warner rear-axle assembly was also an advantage. The four-pinion, 7.75-inch differential transferred more torque to the car's rear end than the standard 7.25-inch. The IROC-Z also had 16-inch wheels, giant disc brakes, and a T-top.

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Between the 5.7-liter V8 and the Borg-Warner rear axle, the IROC-Z made 25 hp and 45 lb-ft of torque more than the Fox Body Mustang. But Chevy could have finessed a few more details to improve its performance.

First, as Magnante points out, the Camaro's cylinder heads were iron. By comparison, the Corvette's aluminum ones saved about 25 to 30 pounds per head.

Similarly, the IROC-Z's exhaust manifolds were iron logs, in contrast to the Corvette's stainless steel tubing. These lighter components would have really helped the Camaro, which was still about 300 pounds heavier than the Mustang.

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And while the Camaro and the C4 Corvette both had tuned port injection, Chevy used the same tuning for both the IROC-Z's 305 and 350 engines. Also, the 4-speed automatic transmission was the only option for the 350, compromising acceleration.

In the end, the 5.0-liter V8 Ford Mustang had the edge in acceleration with 0-60 track times of 6.0 seconds, compared to the Camaro's 6.4 seconds. The Camaro's quarter-mile, though, redeemed it slightly, clocking 14.43 seconds against the Mustang's 14.64 seconds.

Although the 1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z was quick and handled well, it's hard not to think of the beast it could have been with a few engineering tweaks.

Source: YouTube @ Steve Magnante

A third-generation car enthusiast, Lori Wilson enjoys writing about classic cars, hot rods, and supercars. She learned to drive stick on a 3-speed Army Jeep and is at her happiest behind the wheel of her Subaru WRX.