bp56691

I'm a 3rd gen fan and owned a few but to be honest just a novice. Would appreciate any advice...good or bad

I have 1988 that was repainted before I bought it. Here's the vin so I don't waste your time:

1G1FP31E0JL162334

It's a convertible that overheats and needs a new top (my buddy can do at cost). I've put a ton of work in it that isn't "shiny." My search shows a convertible Z28. How do I know if it's a Z28 and if it's worth keeping? More importantly, is it worth keeping a convertible from '88?

Once again any advice is greatly beneficial.

Podium

iTrader: (2)

Unless the car is chopped up (stolen) it should be a z28 going by the vin. You can also check the rpo codes inside the arm rest if they are still there. Get it running correctly and get the top fixed and I'm sure you'll love it! Any pics?

bp56691

Thanks for the advice. Some pics are attached. Feel free to add some critiques as I would love to get it back in 3rd gen shape!

SKELITOR117

iTrader: (3)

Restore it, paint it glossy black, and get some nice rims and tires on it, and you'll have one sweet ride. You can do all that for under 3K.

AmorgetRS

iTrader: (6)

Based on what do you say it's a Z28? It has a L03 engine, which was available in both the Sport Coupe and the Z28.

Based on the pictures, it's a Sport Coupe, not a Z28.

However, I'd repaint and restore, it's a nice looking Camaro.

StevenB L98/LS1

Wasn't 88 the only year you got 2 different color combinations on the convertible?

Edwardgp

Well is it a Z28 or a Sport Coupe.

bp56691

That's what I'm trying to find out. It sounds like the consensus is to keep it though

bp56691

I agree but it has a third brake light on the spoiler (I'm sure this could've been added though)

2007xl50

Am I wrong, but I thought all Z28's said that on the GFX where this one say's Camaro. Looks like an SC to me.

Jason E

Its clearly a base Camaro, based on the pictures. The two tone paint, 15" wheels, "camaro" badging and lack of fog lights all point to a base Camaro. There were no Z28 convertibles in 88, as there was no Z28 in 88. If this was an IROC convertible, it would look significantly different.

It is definitely worth saving, in my opinion...

yo soy el warg

I would bet on it that your car was white, black, or possibly red before it was repainted! Check under the hood or behind a rear plastic panel to see what color it was. I'm only guessing this since your interior looks like it is tan or beechwood which they usually put in cars with these colors.

I have a 1988 white sport coupe with the same gold and black stripe as yours has, same wheels, ground effects, and in the same color combinations.


In 1988 GM offered what they called a (W62) aero package for the sport coupe. My 1988 white sport coupe with (661) beachwood interior got the (W62) aero option.

It consisted of (WW5) Champaign/Gold ground effects, "camaro" in gold on the rocker panels, and (N90) Z28 15" wheels, (92P) fully painted gold wheels and gold caps. The tires were (QYZ) 215/65R15 BLT. This tire size information should be on your driver door.

It also came with the (D88) gold and black striping above the ground effects. This is the same striping that was used on the 1985-87 Irocs. Gm apparently decided to use this stripe kit on this 88 sport coupe with the (W62) aero package.

One other thing this aero package got was the (D81) aero rear spoiler which looks totally different than your usual rear spoiler. This spoiler and option package was phased out during the 88 year. Then they went back to the same ones that the other camaros had during 88. Since yours was a convertible it got all of the above with this (W62) aero package except for the usual convertible spoiler. I have only seen this same package on white, black, and red sport coupes in 1988.

This (W62) aero option was also available in silver during 1988. I have yet to see one of these around here. The aero option color might have been determined by a car's interior color.

I found this information on my car's build sheet.

scottmoyer

That car is a sport coupe. In 1988, you could only get the SC or Z28. Please remember, the IROC-Z was an upgrade package on the Z28 in 1985-1987. It used the RPO B4Z. You will not see B4Z on any car that doesn't also have Z28. In 1988, the IROC-Z upgrade package was eliminated and all Z28s had the IROC-Z appearance. The major difference is in the "upgrade". From 1988-1990, you could get the IROC-Z as bare bones as a sport coupe and in some cases, the sport coupe had more upgrades than the IROC-Z.

Your car is a Sport Coupe. It used the "shorty" rear spoiler designated as RPO D81. It also came with the older 1982-84 Z28 taillights instead of the grid lights. You can't use the rims as a designator since the standard rim for the IROC-Z in 1988 was also the 5-spoke aluminum 15" rim. All 1988 Sport Coupes received the ground effects that were seen previously only on the Z28s. The ground effects were always painted silver or gold.

This car might have been repainted, but from what color is unknown without getting more information. The color combo it has now was available in 1988, so it might have been repainted the same color. It looks like a decent car to do whatever you want to with. It does have the top of the line 305 for the Sport Coupe, but the L03 isn't really much of a power house engine. You could upgrade to something else if you want without really devaluing the car. By upgrading the drive train, you improve the value of the Sport Coupe.

yo soy el warg

I agree with most of what you say except for:

1.) The spoiler on the car isn't a D81 "shorty" the D81 is a partial year option in 1988. I have never seen one on a 1988 IROC- Z. The standard D80 is on this car with the convertible side pieces which were the same for sport coupes and IROC-Z on 1988 convertibles.
2.) Those 15" wheels with the entire rim painted one color gold wasn't the standard on the Z28 of that year. The high raised portion of the spoke and outer part of the rim was aluminum colored on the standard Z28 not completely gold with gold caps which this car has and the (N90) +(92P) gave you all gold wheels and caps on these sport coupes.
3.) The particular stripe on this car is the D88 with the 88A Gold/Black combination is the one that was available on 85-87 IROCs only and with this particular gold package in 1988 only.
4.) One other thing I noticed was the car doesn't appear to have the standard sport coupe grill for 1988.
5.) I think it has what was advertised as the gold aero sport package in 1988?
6.) I can post my build sheet if you would like to see it.

bp56691

Appreciate all the advice out there. I used to really be into thirdgen.org and have owned several but let life get in the way. This makes me want to pull it under the garage and do some work...

Jason E - Thanks for the tip on the fog lights - good eye

yo soy el warg - I believe its originally the "rust" color as the inside of the trunk was not painted and is close to matching. It's the beachwood interior and I added the leather seats from a firebird as it was originally cloth. That is also a billet grill. When I purchased the car the grill was in horrible shape. Originally a black (honeycomb type maybe?) grill. As for the build sheet I don't have mine so not sure how much use it be right now. And thanks for the education!

Scott - Thanks for the tail light info and engine advice. Wasn't aware of either but good to know for the future. And, thanks for the education!

Currently, I don't need the money but it is in the way - and it's deteriorating fairly quickly. I'm being offered around 1200 to 1400 for it. Any suggestions?

Thanks for all help everybody! I owe the community with some future posts...

scottmoyer

1.) The D81 spoiler wasn't available on the IROC-Z. I forgot that we were talking about a convertible here, so I will clarify that the D81 "shorty" spoiler was only available on Sport Coupes for only part of 1988. The rear spoiler on the convertible was the same as was seen on the IROC-Z convertible.

Now, the D80 RPO code wasn't used on the verts. I have a few build sheets and SPID labels for 1988 and D80 is not used on the convertibles. The factory would not install D80 just to remove it and fill the holes on the rear quarters. I believe the W62 was the rear spoiler assembly for the verts. I cannot confirm that, but I believe that to be the case since I have seen the RPO on IROC-Z verts, but not coupes.

2.) You are digging deeper than I was planning on going into with the rims. Yes, I know there are differences in the finish for the two models. I was responding to Jason stating that the car is a SC because it has 15" rims. I was merely stating that you can't use that to determine an SC or IROC-Z in 1988 because the same rims were used as standard. Their finish is different, but I didn't say anything about that.

4.) The grill was replaced with an aftermarket grill. No biggie there.
5.) The aero sport pkg doesn't mean anything about color. There is another RPO associated with the aero package that denotes the package color. I know that WW1 is white, WW4 is black and WW8 is red.
6.) Post if you want to, but it isn't necessary.

yo soy el warg

Scott, the only reason I'm posting is in the event that somebody else is trying to figure out some of these confusing options on their own cars as I have been. Other than that it probably isn't necessary so I won't post any further on this subject.

Here is what I have in front of me on my build sheet for 1988 camaros. I know that W62 has been used in reference to other options in firebirds and probably camaros in previous years.

W62 RPO for 1988 can't be the spoiler on convertibles since the build sheet on my 88 sport coupe has W62 listed as aero package and it isn't a convertible sport coupe.
Also in reference to color, before that RPO it has (WW5) listed as the color Champaign/ Gold, as mentioned above for the ground effects color.
Then, right after the W62 aero package it has RPO (88A) listed as the color Gold/Black for the striping above the ground effects. It also has the striping option as D88.
I'm not trying to get anyone angry at me. I'm just trying to figure out what this car started life as back in 1988.

scottmoyer

Please post further. We need to get the correct information out there. In my first post, I didn't go into details on the rims. If you felt obligated to go into more detail about the difference in the rims, then it's obvious that I wasn't clear enough on my description and others might have misinterpreted my lack of details also.

Now we have a question on what the aero package W62 really is. I am not an expert on all RPO codes, so let's figure this out. You just debunked my thought that it might be the different spoiler for convertibles. Ok. My original thought was that W62 was the ground effects package on the Sport Coupe since previous years, it didn't have GFX. I somehow convinced myself differently while looking at other details. I will go back to my original thought that the W62 code denotes the GFX package on a sport coupe. The WWx code denotes the color of the ground effects and we are already familiar with the different stripe color codes. No issues there.

Now here is where I turned my thoughts on W62. I have a buildsheet for an '89 IROC-Z convertible that shows W62. All IROC-Zs have come with GFX since day one, so why does the convertible denote W62? I started digging deeper into other build sheets. I have a buildsheet for a 90 1LE, that we all know isn't a convertible, and it has W62. Definitely, not the convertible rear spoiler!!! I looked at my 87 build sheet and it doesn't have W62 and the 91 Z28 build sheet I have doesn't show W62. So right now, it looks like a 1988-90 RPO.

cIaRmOaCrZo

looks like an 88 sc all day long

yo soy el warg

I would agree with Scott that the w62 aero package was used during 1988-90.

Another thing to add to the confusion is that GM no longer built Sport Coupes after 1988.

After 1988 they built the Rally Sport Coupes and RS convertibles that had monochromatic ground effects just like the IROC-Z. They no longer produced the plain Sport Coupe.

So it seems that this particular W62 package was only available in 1988 on the Sport Coupe with gold or silver colored ground effects, unless somebody with a 1989 or 1990 Rally Sport has one with a different lower color designated on its RPO sheet and not the monochromatic ground effects. I haven't seen one yet.

It also seems to be a ground effects and ornamentation package that was used along with the partial year rear spoiler (D81), striping, wheels, etc. I would like to find out if they continued the same package after changing to the D80 "conventional style" spoiler later in 88?

For Firebirds the w62 aero package was a combination of options and colors during particular years also. Here is an example:

http://www.earlythirdgen.com/forums/....php?f=7&t=144

scottmoyer

I have a build sheet for a white '89 IROC-Z that states WW1 for white and also has the W62 RPO. As I mentioned earlier, I also have a '90 IROC-Z buildsheet that states the ground effects are colored the same as the car using a WW4 code and W62 is listed. The second car also lists D80 as the rear spoiler. So the WWx code and W62 were both used from 1988-1990.

yo soy el warg

Yes WWx was used on IROCs but, not the (WW5) GOLD except on the Sport Coupe is the point I am trying to make and you are missing it.

Show me one that has a (WW5) gold ground effects with the D81 spoiler. I thought that we were discussing "gold" or "silver" here and gold wheels, striping, camaro logo on the rocker panel in gold, etc.

This is what I found as far as (WW5)GOLD ground effects being used in 88 if you find any others it will be interesting since they didn't offer anything in gold or silver for upper body colors during those years to match the monochromatic color scheme on the ground effects they would have to of had.

http://www.nastyz28.com/gm-rpo-codes/rpo-w.php

I'm only talking about "gold" or "silver" ground effects along with the (W62) during these years in trying to identify the car above as a Sport Coupe for 1988!