SS and Camaro.....is that a good thing?
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From: Ohio
Originally posted by IZ28
And DXed, yes the IROC-Z was almost the same thing as what the SS is now. But it was a new designation which commerated the Camaro Z28 being used as the car of choice of the IROC races that still acknowledged that the car was an IROC-Z28, a better, upgraded Z28.
And DXed, yes the IROC-Z was almost the same thing as what the SS is now. But it was a new designation which commerated the Camaro Z28 being used as the car of choice of the IROC races that still acknowledged that the car was an IROC-Z28, a better, upgraded Z28.
It did not take a name from way back that meant something completely different and all of a sudden become an option to make the Z28 look like a mid-range nothing compared to the IROC-Z, like what the SS did to the Z28.
IROC-Z made Z28 a 'mid-model' just as much as SS did to the Z28 in the 4th gen.
I was ending grade school and begnning highschool the whole time IROC-Z's were around. I was in 7th grade in 1985. I graduated high school in 1990. SO, in my most impressionable years for cars, IROC-Z was the top Camaro... NOT Z28. Z28 was viewed as the car someone bought if the couldn't step up to the IROC-Z. People called (and still call the cars) IROC'S not "IROC-Z28's, or an "upgraded Z28" or anything like that... again, this is something you have made up in your mind to justify the heierarchy of the 3rd Gen.
It was like there were 2 top models, a Z28 or an upgraded Z28.
Then it just made sense to keep the better upgraded Z28 only in 88-90. The problem is using the SS name and not giving the Z28 the recognition it deserves.
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From: Chicagoland IL
Originally posted by Darth Xed
Show me ANYWHERE that the car is called an IROC-Z28... It is IROC-Z. Not IROC-Z28. IROC-Z was an add-on package to the Z28, just as the 4th Gen's SS package was. It's NOT different, especially when you get to the 88 to 90 models when there was no Z28 at all!!!!!!!!! The term "IROC-Z28" is something you have fabricated.
Show me ANYWHERE that the car is called an IROC-Z28... It is IROC-Z. Not IROC-Z28. IROC-Z was an add-on package to the Z28, just as the 4th Gen's SS package was. It's NOT different, especially when you get to the 88 to 90 models when there was no Z28 at all!!!!!!!!! The term "IROC-Z28" is something you have fabricated.
In '88 thru '90 when Z/28 was dropped, IROCZ emblems replaced the Z28 emblems on the exterior....but for some reason, (even though Z/28 as model was dropped), Z28 emblems remained on the interior.
Like I said earlier, I didn't really like Chevy naming their top Camaro package after what I think is pretty silly series.....but the IROC-Z had the Z/28's fingerprints all over it.
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From: At car shows and cruise nights!
Thank you. 
You said it all for me. 
And not only was Z28 on the interior, it was the ordering RPO of an 88-90 IROC-Z. And even IF the Z28 was made mid model-like, (it wasn't in 87, the LT was) the IROC-Z was a Z28 and its easy to see. Thats what the Z was for!! *Doh*
You said it all for me. And not only was Z28 on the interior, it was the ordering RPO of an 88-90 IROC-Z. And even IF the Z28 was made mid model-like, (it wasn't in 87, the LT was) the IROC-Z was a Z28 and its easy to see. Thats what the Z was for!! *Doh*
Last edited by IZ28; Apr 28, 2003 at 10:02 AM.
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From: Sterling Heights, MI
Originally posted by IZ28
And not only was Z28 on the interior, it was the ordering RPO of an 88-90 IROC-Z.
And not only was Z28 on the interior, it was the ordering RPO of an 88-90 IROC-Z.
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From: Chicagoland IL
Re: re: 1st gen Z/28
Originally posted by danno02SS
Horsepower was listed at 290 at 5800 rpm nominal. It's important to keep that word nominal in mind, because it means the 290 figure was just something somebody plugged into Chevy's spec sheets. It might just as well have been 300 or 350 or 400 bhp. Most, if not all, Z-28 302's put out more than 290 bhp and 290 foot-pounds of torque at 4200 rpm.
Actual horsepower depended a lot on which intake and exhaust manifolds you chose, which carburetor(s), and what internal modifications you pursued. No actual dyno figures were ever released by Chevrolet for the 302-cid Z-28 engine, but the auto magazines didn't hesitate to speculate. Their estimates ranged from a realistic 350 bhp in ROAD & TRACK to 370-plus in SPORTS CAR GRAPHIC to 400 bhp in CAR LIFE. All-out, blueprinted racing versions, like those built by Traco and Yunick, probably delivered in the neighborhood of 450 bhp, which took some heavy tinkering to pull from 302 cid and still expect reliability.
from Chapter 6 of Michael Lamm's "The Great Camaro"; and also from Chapter 14 of John Hooper's "The 1967-1968 Camaro Reference Book".
Horsepower was listed at 290 at 5800 rpm nominal. It's important to keep that word nominal in mind, because it means the 290 figure was just something somebody plugged into Chevy's spec sheets. It might just as well have been 300 or 350 or 400 bhp. Most, if not all, Z-28 302's put out more than 290 bhp and 290 foot-pounds of torque at 4200 rpm.
Actual horsepower depended a lot on which intake and exhaust manifolds you chose, which carburetor(s), and what internal modifications you pursued. No actual dyno figures were ever released by Chevrolet for the 302-cid Z-28 engine, but the auto magazines didn't hesitate to speculate. Their estimates ranged from a realistic 350 bhp in ROAD & TRACK to 370-plus in SPORTS CAR GRAPHIC to 400 bhp in CAR LIFE. All-out, blueprinted racing versions, like those built by Traco and Yunick, probably delivered in the neighborhood of 450 bhp, which took some heavy tinkering to pull from 302 cid and still expect reliability.
from Chapter 6 of Michael Lamm's "The Great Camaro"; and also from Chapter 14 of John Hooper's "The 1967-1968 Camaro Reference Book".
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From: Ohio
Originally posted by Z28Wilson
If you really want to nit-pick about RPO's, when ordering a 4th gen SS I'm pretty sure you selected Z28 and then checked the SS performance/appearance package.
If you really want to nit-pick about RPO's, when ordering a 4th gen SS I'm pretty sure you selected Z28 and then checked the SS performance/appearance package.
Exactly.
Look, I'm not trying to rip IROC's... I like them and the 3rd Gen car... hell, I drove on for 4 years!
The thing is, no matter how nit-picky the 3rd Genners wanna get about it, IROC-Z was an "SS" before the 4th Gen even came about.
If IROC-Z is OK, there is no reason SS should be a problem.
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From: Chicagoland IL
Originally posted by Darth Xed
The thing is, no matter how nit-picky the 3rd Genners wanna get about it, IROC-Z was an "SS" before the 4th Gen even came about.
If IROC-Z is OK, there is no reason SS should be a problem.
The thing is, no matter how nit-picky the 3rd Genners wanna get about it, IROC-Z was an "SS" before the 4th Gen even came about.
If IROC-Z is OK, there is no reason SS should be a problem.
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From: Oakland, California
Not to beat a dead horse... but I will... 
The 3rd-Gen IROC-Z was a special equipment and styling option on top of the "base" Z/28. The 4th-Gen "SS" was a special equipment and styling option on top of the "base" Z/28.
Why "SS" was chosen should bo obvious to even the most feeble minded... they weren't running Camaros at IROC, and Chevy was trying to tie into the heritage of the "Super Sports".
The IROC option (RPO B4Z) included special suspension, stowaway spare tire, P245/50VR16 black wall tires, aluminum wheels and halogen fog lamps. Available only with Z28. -source> http://www.camarosource.ca
Why "SS" was chosen should bo obvious to even the most feeble minded... they weren't running Camaros at IROC, and Chevy was trying to tie into the heritage of the "Super Sports".
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From: In a meeting
Make the SS the drag racer's solid axle, straight line, 1/4 mile sledgehammer, and the Z/28 the road racer's IRS, big braked, high-revving, nimble, light weight road carver, which is what it started out as--a Trams AM homologation special. Plenty of room for both.
Wasn't the first "SS" the Chevy Impala 409, about 1961?
Wasn't the first "SS" the Chevy Impala 409, about 1961?
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From: Chicagoland IL
Originally posted by quick
Make the SS the drag racer's solid axle, straight line, 1/4 mile sledgehammer, and the Z/28 the road racer's IRS, big braked, high-revving, nimble, light weight road carver, which is what it started out as--a Trams AM homologation special. Plenty of room for both.
Make the SS the drag racer's solid axle, straight line, 1/4 mile sledgehammer, and the Z/28 the road racer's IRS, big braked, high-revving, nimble, light weight road carver, which is what it started out as--a Trams AM homologation special. Plenty of room for both.
I'm sure Chevy would tell you though, how that would cost too much, there is not enough money for such frivolity, why would we want that anyway, dent resistant fenders should be exciting enough, etc., etc.
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From: Chicagoland IL
Originally posted by jg95z28
Actually the "first" "SS" was a six cylinder.
Actually the "first" "SS" was a six cylinder.
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From: Pasadena,CA,USA
Actually the first SS was a special racing Corvette that Zora Arkus-Duntov engineered in 1957.
www.illustratedcorvetteseries.com/No7_1957_SS_Corvette.html
The "SS" nameplate was seen as a way to put a little bit of the Corvette spirit into every Chevrolet.
www.illustratedcorvetteseries.com/No7_1957_SS_Corvette.html
The "SS" nameplate was seen as a way to put a little bit of the Corvette spirit into every Chevrolet.
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From: Chicagoland IL
Originally posted by danno02SS
Actually the first SS was a special racing Corvette that Zora Arkus-Duntov engineered in 1957.
Actually the first SS was a special racing Corvette that Zora Arkus-Duntov engineered in 1957.
Someone asked Zora if his purpose built Sebring race car was a sportscar. Zora responded..." no, it's a super sportscar".
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