whats in a 3rd gen?

Hi guys, I'm considering, amongst others, getting a 3rd gen camaro. . From what i found, it seems the 1992 5.7litre v8 has the most power, is this right and is it so much more that its worth getting the 5.7 over the 5.0litre??? IS this an RS or IROC or what?? sorry, don't know much about 3rd gens.

Basically i'd like to know what year camaro to get, what engine, what type (rs, iroc or z28) and whether the manual or auto would be best. I'm looking for speed and reliability and ease of modification as my criteria.

Also, how many mods would it take to get the 3rd gen to be as fastas a stock LT1??
thanks a lot guys.

Irocs were only around from 1985 till 1990 and then were replaced by the Z28. The 5.7L only came in irocs and z28s from 1987 onward. The best engines available in the thirdgens were the TPI engines. The 5.7L made alot of hp and torque but a 5.0L with 5spd and dual cat exhaust only made 10 less hp than the 5.7L although it lacked a bit more in torque.

The 5.0ls can keep up with the 5.7s pretty well and you could not get a 5.7L car with anything but an automatic transmission, unless its been swapped.

5.7's are all autos. some 305 cars (5.0) came with manuel trannys. the manuels however could handle maybe 2 more hp then the engine dished out lol. your better off with an auto 350, and build up the motor. the 700-r4 transmition is pretty strong,

The T5s arent that bad unless you beat on them hard.

I have an 86 camaro that I've had for about 5 years. It was suposed to be my first car, but it needed a lot of work and we just never seemed to get done with it. It's just a standard coupe with a 305 and auto tranny. It has about 160K miles and I just got done taking it out for a spin to get the cobb webs out and I was very suprised. It had to have had something done with it cuz it would spin the tire(non-posi) for a block,not power braking. I've test drove a tpi 305 Iroc and it is clearly faster and it's been sitting for ever. just don't rule the 305 out cuz everyone thinks they suck.

I was really deep into getting a third gen before I found my fourth gen. If you get a third gen be sure that you get an IROC or Z28, and the later the model the better for speed. The 91 and 92 Z28's had a better engine than the earlier models. A lot of people will tell you to get the 350, and it would probably be better for power, but as said before it will be am automatic. A lot of people are against that, but you could trade for a manual if you want..

so the majority of you are saying that the 350 is much better and it only comes in auto.......dammit. I can't afford to do a manual conversion so i dunno, i guess i'll take one out for a test drive if i find one and see if i like it or not and go from there. thanks for the help guys. Oh by the way, what about my seocnd question, how many mods would a 3rd gen need to keep up with an LT1??

What kind of hp does an LT1 make stock??

The 3rd gen TPI engines are a lower revving engine than the LT1. They make alot of torque down low and my 5.7L peaks at around 5k. I know the LT1 makes power a little higher than that because it has very short intake runners, however it does lack power somewhat down low around like 1500 rpms.

an average LT1 is about 275 hp.

get a third gen and fix it up and make it a sleeper, people always think 3rd gens are weak