Daytona 2000 - Corvair Speedweek

Florida's David LaPorte added to the convention buzz by showing up is his Yenko Stinger Corvair, #YS-019. It was great to have a close look at this car, which I was familiar with from its earlier inclusion in the Yenko section of this site. YS-019 is a stunning low mileage example of the breed, equipped with a set of very attractive American Racing Torque Thrust wheels, as seen at right.

The Stinger was built to Stage II specifications when David bought it, so when he popped the deck lid at Daytona 2000, I was expecting to see 4 single barrel carbs. To my surprise, my gaze fell upon a newly built Stage IV engine complete with a pair of 3-barrel Weber carburetors and custom billet air cleaners machined by Rudy of Blue Sky (Blue Sky, Inc., Florida). Further investigation revealed the engine had been highly modified, with all machine work done by Warren LeVeque's LeVair Performance Products.

American Racing Torque Thrust wheel

3-barrel Webers

The block and heads were de-flashed and a set of 3 and 9/16" Salli cylinder jugs were installed. Then came an NOS Spyder crank, polished connecting rods and forged pistons, fly cut for valve clearance. Stock size valves are actuated by a custom ground Competition Cams dual pattern cam. Stainless fuel lines, a super clean throttle linkage arrangement and original Crown Weber manifolds mate the 3-barrels to the exotic engine.

Weber 3-barrel carburetors and custom air cleaners

David mentioned that he'd been collecting parts for and building this engine for 14 years! He describes the process as "A labor of much love," and adds it is much harder to build an "old tech" engine because of parts availability. He is still looking for IECO valve covers and would love to find someone willing to unload a pair. David's e-mail: Stingayenko019@aol.com

Dave's wife, Brenda, helped with the engine installation, and remembers it as a very emotional experience, probably, she laughs, because it finally freed up some space in the garage!