I've had my 87 Iroc for 16 years and about 5 years ago I started some rebuild stuff on it. It is pretty nice as it sits, I just want it better. It has leather seats out of a 2002 transam, new head liner, and the motor was rebuilt a couple of years ago (but I need to install a new torque converter). It is not my current daily driver (02 Z06) so I have time to work on it. I have rust spots that keep popping up so I want to repaint again. The last paint job was about 13 years ago. I plan on buying a donor car to fix any little things of mine that are broken

Here is my question... What is the going rate for a parts car? I like deals, but I've seen prices all over the place. I'm considering buying a blue 87 Iroc tomorrow that has a rod knock so the engine needs rebuilt (which is fine because I don't have a current need for one). The pictures look nice and the owner states it has newer tires, brakes, new magnaflow exhaust, and a few other things. Is $800 a good price? I'm bringing my engine guy with me to confirm the engine trouble (maybe it isn't so bad). I believe the car is complete. If the body is nicer than mine I was even thinking of making it my car and moving my new motor and interior over to it.

What prices have you guys paid for non running 3rd gen Camaros or IROC's?

Here is an indirect photo of mine:
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Here is a photo of the car for $800 that I might buy tomorrow:
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We bought my brother's 88 Iroc with a blown motor for $1200. It is a 100% solid car which is hard to find around here.

 

thats about right for a parts car in thaty good of condition. i would ask 2k for that car with a bad engine it looks great!

 

Don't miss out on that car. Looks like a great deal.

 

if i was close i would buy that from under u lol

 

If everything is solid on that blue IROC except the engine $800 is a hell of a deal.

 

I'd buy it in a heartbeat man.

 

What?!? A Corvette owner with a IROC!?! LOL ya still got a little mullet left in ya, theres still hope after all! JK

Nah man $800 is a great deal for that car, I had a nice 87 IROC my self back in the day. Nice cars by the way!

 

Yes I have both. My wife wants me to sell the Iroc but there is no way. My parents had an 86 brand new when I was a kid. My dad has a souped up 82. And I've had mine since I graduated in 94. I love the looks. It will never be sold.

 

I went to look at it and of course was excited. The outside of the car is rust free and in excellent condition except for a good dent one of the front quarters. The inside was pretty ruff, but I've seen worse. The car is 24 years old after all. It had multiple parts broken, but in the end I thought it would be worth it to be able to pull any little parts I needed. I also think I am going to use the body and move my interior and motor over. My black one has too many rusty areas coming through the paint. I'm going to start gutting it Monday and basically do a complete restore utilizing both the blue and my black one. Here is a picture of it tucked in my detached garage with my 50 Studebaker (my other project car which I might use the blown motor for), my black IROC and Vette.

(The hood seals perfectly against the bumper, but it was open when I took the picture)
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Oh and since I was taking so long debating I was able to get the car for a little less. I got it for $700. I figure I can sell a few parts and quickly get a good chunk of that back if I wanted.

 

Considering how you are doing a semi restroation on the third gen, have you looked into the LS engine swaps that everyone is doing these days?
I love that trend.
I put a GM create Ram Jet 350 in mine replacing weak 305 TPI and it was a nice upgrade for sure, but after driving LS powered stuff its just hard to compare anything else to it.
So easy to make power with anything LS, more relieable, more fuel effecient.

Here is a picture of mine before I sold it.
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I'm open to anything. The motor in my black one is newly rebuilt, but I could always put it in my Studebaker and do the LS swap for the IROC. I have the LS6 in my Corvette and on road trips I squeeze out 30 miles to the gallon. And needless to say it is amazingly fast.

I've always loved the black on my IROC, but there is a good chance I might go the blue. I think a blue with a lot of black accents and solid black interior could look great.

Nice car... I love it!

 

I had a Black 85 IROC as my first car. I really liked that car as well. But the blue one was my favorite.

I beat yours looks really good with the TA interior since you can't get black leather in third gen. Never understood why they did not put it in those cars.

Mine had white stripes and looked good on the blue. Also I really like the chromed Iroc wheels I put on that car. The Z06 vette wheels look good on the third gens as well to give them a more modern look.

When my 00 Camaro had the LS1 with a cam in it, it would pull 30mpg on the highway. I have a LS3 in the car now, but have not had it out on any road trips yet to see what it gets fuel wise.

 

You stole that car for $700. I've parted out 4 third gen Camaros in the last 12 months. Two of them were complete cars without title or keys, both were ttop 305/auto RS's, one for $500 and the other for $700. Another one was a ttop IROC-Z with no engine or title, traded a dash for it and parted out what I could and made free money on it. The other one was a hardtop '89 RS that I paid $600 for without an engine or transmission, came with two complete interiors and I made a good chunk off of it also. I haven't paid more than $700 for a parts car ever.



If you want to sell some things off either one of your cars since you're building one car out of them, my dad needs some silver IROC-Z or Z28 emblems, and a silver one for the dash would be cool too. I really need the ground effect/rear bumper emblems though. Can you sell me a set of those?

 

Nick as soon as I start tearing down and figure out my plan I'll let you know about the emblems. I think they are all there on the blue one and I know they are all there on my black one.

I need to know if I'm heading in the best direction though. As I stated before my black one is actually pretty nice but it has rust coming through on the body behind the t-tops, under the gas door (both of these I repaired and the rust came back), and it is starting to come out above some fenders as well as other places. Ever since I had the car the front bumper of the car had a good 1/2" gap between it and the hood. I tried to have this gap fixed when I had the car painted 13 years ago with no luck.

The only rust I really found on the blue car so far was the black plate that goes between the two t tops. It isn't nearly as bad as it was on the black one and I have the replacement piece for it. The hood to the blue car closes perfectly. The only real dent I have found so far on the blue was on the right front fender. I magically was able to find a new metal replacement fender (bought new and never used) for $30.

So knowing the body differences is it worth using the blue car as my new car or would it be better to move parts from the blue to fix the black one? I plan on having this car forever so I want to do what is best. I'm thinking if I use the blue one it forces me to do a total tear down and I can really clean it up and make it almost new (doing things like repainting the engine compartment, new undercoating, etc). It seems like using the black one will create a lot of body work with the strong chance that the rust will still come back. Although I must say my heart is with the black one and if I do gut and restore the body of the blue and am ready to tear down the black to complete the blue it will be a sad day for me.

So do I use the blue as the car and move over my new interior and engine, or do I use the black and try to fix it's body issues?

 

The thing about rust is if you don't take out completely to it's rotten core, it will always come back. It looks like building the blue one is your best option, plus it's blue which makes it that much better! Haha

 

Nick, I saw the thread on your Dad's car that is sweet!

I going to try and make mine a picture heavy thread so that others can see. I know that it helps me tremendously to look at others pictures to see what I could do. Today I plan on going out there (after turning on the heater), wiping it down to take some clean pictures of before, removing the hood, and start ripping out the engine.

 

1st day of tear down with pics

I feel I got a lot done while my 7 year old sat in the IROC playing angry birds. I got the hood off and I think all of the wiring to the engine is off as well as the radiator and fans.

I got the seats out, door panels off, carpet out, and all trim pieces out. I did discover a huge dent under the passenger front seat. It looks like the car landed on a big rock or something, but the damage seemed minor and I pounded it back down with a hammer. The seats aren't that bad. I believe they are out of a 30th anniversary Camaro, because they have a 30 and a Chevy symbol on them.

One thing I hadn't heard of, but it was obviously stock was the bose system. It was weird. Front kick panel speakers instead of dash speakers (I understand this, but the kicks are boxy and ugly... I have aftermarket kicks in my black car and they are sweet looking [see pic]). What I don't understand is that no 6x9's are in there and instead have little 4" speakers in the very rear. Why would they do this? A 6x9 would sound much better.

Also in the pics below I put a couple of interior shots of my black one. The interior was a project I started, but did not fully finish (I wanted black carpet and plastics). You can see the black TransAm leather seats, new headliner and sail panels, new leather door panels, and a crack free dash pad, as well as the 6 1/2" kick panel speakers. If everything stays with the flow of my current plan this interior (with the rest of the upgrades) will transfer over into the better blue body.

Part of me is wanting to keep my black one since it is my baby and still build the blue one and just have 2. If I went this route though it would have to be a secret from my wife
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Thanks man!