The 1987 Corvette

The Overview

The 1987 Corvette looks like a 1986 with argent-gray wheel centers, and most of what changed is under the clamshell. Roller hydraulic lifters cut friction in the L98 and raised it to 240 hp at 4,000 rpm and 345 lb-ft at 3,200, with new raised-rail rocker covers to stop the oil leaks, a thicker-core radiator, a second electric fan and a finned power-steering cooler; the aluminum heads were on every car now. The automatic got a taller 2.59:1 axle for the EPA, the 4+3 kept its 3.07:1 Dana 44, and the new Z52 Sport Handling Package ($470) gave 12,662 buyers the Z51’s 9.5-inch wheels, Bilstein gas shocks, quick steering, thicker front bar and all but one of the convertible’s chassis stiffeners on the base springs, which is to say the handling without the punishment; the Z51 itself ($795), stiffer still and now restricted to coupes with the manual, found only 1,596 takers. A power passenger seat, an illuminated vanity mirror, heated mirrors on the convertible and a low-tire-pressure warning that could set off the car parked next to it, and was withdrawn after a few dozen cars, rounded out the list.

The news was RPO B2K. Chevrolet had admired Reeves Callaway’s turbocharged Alfa Romeos, and for 1987 it put his twin-turbo conversion on the Corvette order form: a buyer ticked B2K at any Chevrolet dealer, Bowling Green built the car with a specific equipment group, shipped it to Callaway Cars in Old Lyme, Connecticut, and it came back with a rebuilt L98 on forged low-compression pistons, two intercooled RotoMaster turbochargers, new intake and exhaust plumbing and a full GM warranty, rated at 345 hp and 465 lb-ft. Car and Driver took one to 177.9 mph, the fastest car then sold through an American dealer, and the option cost $19,995 on top of the $27,999 coupe or $33,172 convertible; 184 were built for 1987, the first of about 500 B2Ks through 1991. It was the first time General Motors had farmed a regular production option out to an outside specialist, and it made Callaway’s name.

The convertible, in its second year, outsold its first by more than three thousand, 10,625 against 20,007 coupes, at $5,173 more than the coupe. Road & Track’s 4+3 convertible ran 0–60 in 6.3 seconds and the quarter in 14.8 at 95 mph; Motor Trend’s did 6.3 and 15.1. Dark Red Metallic jumped to 5,578 cars behind Bright Red’s 8,285, and Copper Metallic, four cars in 1986, was built 87 times. Behind the scenes Tony Rudd at Lotus, newly owned by GM, concluded there was no future in twin-cam heads on the L98 and set the program that became the LT5 and the ZR-1 in motion. Today the 1987 is a 1986 with ten more horsepower and the Z52’s better manners, priced with it; the B2K cars are a market of their own, the first collectible C4s after the 1986 Pace Car convertibles.

The 1987 Corvette Story

During the middle of the 1986 model year, General Motors had acquired a controlling interest in Lotus, a small British automotive manufacturing company. Already known around the world for having an enviable reputation in Formula One Grand Prix racing and building some truly amazing automobiles, General Motors saw in their acquisition the opportunity to explore advancements in their own engine development programs.

In fact, Tony Rudd, Lotus’s technical director, had entered into an agreement with GM to design twin-cam, sixteen-valve cylinder heads for the L98 engine. The challenge they faced was how to squeeze the additional hardware into an already limited amount of engine space.

At the same time, other significant advancements were being made within the existing Corvette program. The return of the Corvette Convertible in 1986 had represented the first re-uniting of the coupe and the convertible (offered in the same model year) in more than a decade. Despite less than stellar sales numbers in its first year, the return of the convertible option was well received by critics and Corvette enthusiasts alike.

Many Corvette purists pointed out that the Corvette had begun its existence as a convertible, and it seemed only logical that General Motors should continue to offer the convertible option as part of the Corvette’s heritage. In fact, many Corvette enthusiasts had strongly criticized the absence of a convertible option when it had been previously discontinued at the onset of the 1976 model year. So, for 1987, both the coupe and the convertible returned, but not without some noteworthy changes to both variants of the vehicle.

Cosmetically, the Corvette was virtually unchanged from the 1986 model, save for one, immediately identifiable feature – the wheels. For the 1984 and 1985 models, the wheels’ center caps and radial slots had been painted black. In 1986, only the slots featured the black paint.

For the 1987 model year, the black paint was eliminated completely from the wheels, and both the caps and slots were now treated to an argent gray coloring.

In an ongoing effort to reduce engine friction with the intent of improving both engine performance and fuel economy, Chevrolet added rollers to the hydraulic lifters. In doing so, the engine performance of the 1987 Corvette was increased by ten horsepower, taking the rating to 240 hp. Torque also improved by 15 lb-ft, to 345. In addition to the rollers, they also added rocker-arm covers with raised rails to help prevent oil leaks. A thicker-core radiator and a second electric cooling fan were also included to further aid in maintaining cooler engine temperatures.

Additionally, a finned power-steering cooler was included.

Did you know? Although Callaway Cars, Inc. is known around the world for its prestigious, high-performance, turbocharged variants to high-end production sports cars, they garnered this reputation by developing a number of special edition Corvettes. Perhaps their most impressive accomplishment to date is the development of the Sledgehammer Corvette, a specially modified C4 Callaway Corvette which is capable of reaching speeds in excess of 250mph, with a current, recorded top speed of 254.76 miles per hour!

In addition to the engine upgrades, a second suspension option was made available. Designated with option code Z52 and priced at $470.00, this “sports handling package” option was essentially a softer version of the Z51 package, with the wider 9.5 inch wheels, plus a solid and thicker front anti-roll bar, new gas-charged shocks, quick-ratio steering, and all but one of the chassis stiffeners originally developed for the convertible.

Spring rates and bushings were carried over from the base chassis. The original Z51 package was also offered in 1987, now only on coupes with the manual transmission, and featured much of the same hardware as the Z52 option, although it included much stiffer springs and front lower-control-arm bushings, plus a solid (instead of link type) rear stabilizer.

The Z52 option was praised by automotive enthusiast magazines for its improved ride quality with handling that was little changed.

A couple of other options found their way into the 1987 Corvette. Although these options were not new to General Motors as a whole, they were unique to the Corvette in that they had never been featured in any of its earlier forms. A low-tire-pressure indicator (RPO UJ6) made a brief appearance early in the 1987 model year. The low-tire pressure indicator signaled a drop in pressure of one pound per square inch on any wheel, via a dash panel display. Priced at $325, it was soon discovered that some of the installed units could actually trigger the same hardware in other Corvettes equipped with this same option, causing false alarms and inaccurate pressure reporting for both vehicles.

The option was withdrawn after a few dozen cars and returned, sorted, for 1989. Another “existing option” that made its way into the 1987 Corvette was electronic air conditioning. While it had been available in the Corvette coupe in 1986, the option was made available for both the coupe and the convertible for the 1987 model year.

New for 1987 was an aftermarket option that was offered to consumers when ordering their Corvettes from the factory. Although it was not a factory option, speed-thirsty consumers could order a Callaway Twin-Turbo Engine package through participating dealerships.

Under the designation RPO B2K, the twin turbo option was rated at 345 bhp and 465 lbs/ft of torque. When installed, it allowed the Corvette to reach a top speed of 177.9 miles per hour in Car and Driver’s hands, with the 0.60:1 overdrive. Unfortunately for most consumers, the Twin-Turbo Engine package included a steep price tag of an additional $19,995 (over the base price of the Corvette), putting it well out of reach for many Corvette consumers. Still, for those that did order their Corvette with this option, their Corvette would be shipped from Bowling Green (upon its completion) to Callaway Cars in Old Lyme, Connecticut where it would be modified to include the B2K option.

Even in its base form, the 1987 Corvette was proving itself as a genuine performance car. Motor Trend Magazine performed a series of time trials with a Corvette Convertible and recorded some remarkable results for its day. Equipped with a manual transmission and the newly improved 240 horsepower version of the L98 engine, the 1987 Corvette Convertible accelerated from 0-60 in just 6.3 seconds and ran a respectable 15.11 seconds in the quarter mile, reaching a speed of 93.8 miles per hour.

By the end of the 1987 model year, Tony Rudd came back to David McLellan with the conclusion that there was no viable way to re-invent the L98 engine. While General Motors had managed to moderately push the L98’s horsepower limitations in the mid-eighties, the respectable, though relatively unimpressive numbers represented the restrictions built into the engine itself.

After much review with McLellan of the many modification pursuits he’d undertaken to improve the performance of the L98 engine, Rudd ultimately won his case that GM’s only chance for success was to take this engine program in an entirely new direction.

Ironically, in pursuing this endeavor, Rudd would begin a journey that would ultimately lead to the development of arguably one of the greatest Corvette engines of all time – the LT5 – but that development would be another three years in the making.

Production Volumes

Although Corvette’s performance numbers were steadily on the rise, so too was its price. At $27,999 for the coupe and $33,172 for the convertible, many critics felt the Corvette was becoming too pricey for its own good. Still, when compared to European cars of the same caliber, the Corvette was still a better value than most exotic cars in its price range. For the 1987 model year, Corvette sales did continue to decline, although overall sales were still respectable at 30,632 cars, of which the convertible accounted for 10,625 – an increase of 3,310 over 1986. A total of 184 Callaway twin-turbo cars were also sold that year.