Under the deck lid of Herb's Corvair we find a modified 140 hp engine built to approximate Yenko Stage II specifications for street operation and to conform to SCCA Solo II Street Prepared category. Output is approximately 180 bhp.

Starting at the bottom end, Herb deburred the oil passages in the crankcase, installed oil baffles under the lifter bores and added a high volume oil pump. He retained the highly regarded stock 140 crankshaft, balanced as an assembly with all rotating parts and connecting rods. Bearings are Clevite-77, pistons are +.030", TRW forged, using moly rings. Weights are matched.

The cylinder heads were milled to reduce deck height and material was removed to un-shroud the valves and smooth the combustion chambers. The chambers were CC'd to the stock 9.25:1 compression ratio. Deep valve seats were installed and a 3-angle valve grind was performed by Blake Swafford (Otto Parts).

The valve train consists of Otto Parts heavy-duty springs and lifters with pushrods shortened to compensate for milling of the heads and the camshaft is an Otto Parts OT-20.

The Ignition system uses a stock 140 distributor modified by DALE (Soon to be converted to Pertronix Ignitor) and a set of yellow ignition wires from Seth Emerson's Silicon Wire Systems.

The throttle linkage is a Heim joint linkage from Dale, and the air cleaners are K&Ns.

Here's a close-up of the throttle linkage and carbs on one side of the engine.

The intakes on the 140 heads were re-worked with all carb flanges bored out to 1.5" to accept Yenko carburetors. The primaries were Yenko-ized by relocating the jets to the side of the bowl. Then, a set of .053 jets and extended vent tubes were added. The secondaries are the same as the primaries except the venturis are bored and sleeved to 1.25" and the throats to 1.5" (work done by Seth Emerson)

The adapters for the K&N filters were made from exhaust pipe tubing. The photo at right shows how the PCV (smog) tube is mounted into the air cleaner/filter adapter. The T-fitting allows the same setup on the other side.

Other modifications include a reduction in the diameter of the stock cooling fan, which was cut down 1/2".

The rear pulley, not seen in the photo, is a stock Corvair 3-spoke cast item, with no harmonic balancer.

Herb subscribes to the theory that a large capacity oiling system (7-quart in this case) is a healthy addition to any high performance Corvair. He uses a cast aluminum pan reworked for increased ground clearance, a windage tray and an extended pickup to match the pan. That's the oil temperature sending unit on the side of the pan. To its left,  Cyclone headers are seen exiting the cylinder head.