Here's some info lifted off the net...more specific to Corvettes than Camaros and specs than part #'s but it includes some of the Can-Am block stuff too..
~ Pete
...
L-88:
5140 forged steel crankshaft
12.5:1 compression
Valves: 2.19" intake, 1.84" exhaust
850 CFM Holley Four-barrell
high rise aluminum intake
CAM:
solid lifter
.5365" lift on intake side, .5560 exhaust
duration: 337 intake, 340 exhaust
7/16" pushrod
"long-slot" stamped steel rocker arms
"chicken-wire" screen topping off the carb. those large gaps were to flow air not filter it.
95 motor octane minimum
1000 rpm idle, automatics were set to 2k commonly. please keep both feet firmly on the brake while shifting to drive. thank you
ZL-1
all aluminum, cast out of 356 T-6 alloy.. heads and block both. cast with a pair of extra bolt holes on each bank of cylinders. cast iron sleeves. dry sump oiling system
connecting rods, crank,pins, and valves were the same as used in the L-88
differences :
extra thick tops on TRW forged aluminum pistons
cam specs:
intake lift : .560 exhaust lift : .600
shorter duration, although I do not have the specs on that
reworked ports on the heads... which matched round headers that would be immediately installed by the new owner(we hope)
combustion chamber volume went to 118 cc, L-88 was at 106.8
L-89
the L-89 WAS not a version of the L-88. it was an aluminum headed version of the L-71 427. rated at 435 hp, it was designed to be the fastest corvette in street trim as the 435 hp was about right.....
the L-88 and ZL-1 were both rated at 430 hp which was a joke. both were tuned for wide open headers or race exhaust.. NOT for the restrictive stock system that was put on. even when tested the cars were built to underperform. they arrived for testing with an automatic tranny and 3.36:1 gears and stock exhausts. had chevrolet built the gears and tranny as they did the L-71/89 .. aka manual trans with 4:11's then the L-88 wouldve easily stomped the L-89 into the ground. the L-88 was never advertised as the high performance race car it was. people were expected to remove that exhaust, and race the car, since the L-88 and ZL-1 were both designed to never see trips to the grocery store. they were made to race, and were tuned to do so... no fan shroud, jet fuel as a minimum, no radio, no heater (except for 69) etc etc. with the headers on as they should be the L-88 out out approximately 600 hp. the ZL-1 was actually producing slightly less power but with some minor porting 600 was attainable. even with the less power the ZL-1 more than made up for it with the 200+lb weight savings. the L-88s actually were BB that weighed only 60 lbs more than a small block with their aluminum heads. after all was said and done the ZL-1 BB tipped the scales at 25 LBS LESS then a standard small block. imagine an LT-1 out there with 600 hp. and I do mean literally. the ZL-1 car weighed just a couple pounds over 2800.
again, internally the motors were NOT the same. with the ZL-1, the heads along with the specially cast aluminum block, had extra bolt holes to provide additional clamping force between the head and block surfaces. the intake also had an open plenum and some minor differences in the ports. the cam was also slightly different. as with the L-88 the ZL-1 had a HUGE cam that made idling a laborous task... they both sacraficed low end for all out high rpm racing.
outside of the difference in motors... it should be noted that the ZL-1 was the closest duntov ever got to shaping his baby into a world class car. he had wanted mid engine design for years to compete with the ferraris and such overseas, and had numerous test cars designed so. none made it to production obviously. he also had an affection for small cube high revving motors but felt it unfair to have the chevrolet flagship sporting anything but the most power in the factory. the ZL-1 gave him close to the midengine weight distribution he had dreamed of.. 43/57 front to rear ratio. and with all that power in a package that took 25 lbs more off the front than a small block, it handled better than any other that had come before it.... Duntov had always been motivated to make a car to run with the european cars,... small light and quick, enabling them to be nimble in the corners as well. the power was there for the corvettes, but all that iron on the front wheels hurt corning ablility badly. in the 69 may edition of motor trend, and I quote.... "They said Detroit could never build anything like a Ferrari because some product planning committee or cost accounting group would pinpoint the economic folly of such low volume-madness, compromise it and send it on to the world as just another gimmicked-up cop out" this was said about the ZL-1, proving "they" wrong. the same writer stated that it was the best handling corvette ever built (meaning it was the best handling american car ever built) he stated that the car could run with the ferraris at one-third the price... ZL-1 sold for 9 grand.
As a last note, from the years of 68 to 71, McLaren racers powered their cars with the ZL-1, and obliterated everything out on the playing field... they won 32 out of 37 events.
McLaren and Chaparral and other Can Am race cars did not use the ZL1 block. It was not strong enough withstand the HP and RPM abuse. They used the Can AM block which looked similar to the ZL1 block but was a completely different casting. The top Pro Stock drag racers were also replacing the ZL1 block with Can Am block.
The Corvette road racers were using the ZL1 block at Daytona, Sebring, LeMans etc.
In my opinion the King of the Big Blocks was the Chevy 4.44 inch bore alu. Cam-Am motor (not the same motor as the ZL1). In 1969 it was 430 cu. in. making about 650hp. It grew over 500 cu. in. and made over 750 hp. normally aspirated on gas in road racing trim. Bill Grumpy Jenkins was making over 800hp with his Can Am Pro Stock motor in 1970. Most of the Can Am components were available from the Chevy HD parts list. Chevy stopped selling it and allowed Don Yenko to take over marketing the Can Am block. The CanAm BB Chevy motor dominated CamAm racing beating Ferrari, Porsche, and Ford, who all had more expensive exotic engines, until Porsche went insane and built their duel turbo 1100hp 12cyl. but that's another story.