The engine was now 145 cubic inches (2.4В L) and the base engine was said to produce the same 80В hp (60В kW). In 1961, the engine received its first increases in size via a larger bore. The high performance optional 'Super TurboAir' version, introduced mid 1960 with a special camshaft and revised carburetors and valve springs produced 95В hp (70В kW). The initial Corvair engine displaced 140 cubic inches (2.3В L) and produced 80В hp (60В kW). The Corvair's innovative turbocharged engine The turbo, located at top right, takes in air through the large air cleaner at top left, passes it through the sidedraft carburetor in between, and feeds pressurized fuel/air mixture into the engine through the chrome T-tube visible spanning the engine from left to right. The Corvair engine also became a favorite for installation into modified Volkswagens and Porsches, as well as dune buggies and homemade sports and race cars. Two years after its 1960 debut, the Corvair engine gained another unusual attribute: it was the second production engine ever to be equipped from the factory with a turbocharger, released shortly after the Oldsmobile Jetfire V8.ДЄircraft hobbyists and small volume builders, perhaps seeing the Corvair engine's similarity to Lycoming aircraft engines, very quickly began a cottage industry of modifying Corvair engines for aircraft use, which continues to this day. As with the Volkswagen and Porsche designs, the low weight and compact but wide packaging made the engine ideal for mounting in the rear of the car, eliminating the weight and space of a conventional driveshaft. In addition, the elimination of water-cooling eliminated several points of maintenance and possible failure, reducing them all to a single point the fan belt. Eliminating a water-cooling system further reduced the weight, and the use of aluminum for the heads and crankcase capitalized on this weight reduction so that with the use of aluminum for the transaxle case, the entire engine/transaxle assembly weighed under 500 pounds (225 kilograms). Unlike inline or V designs, the horizontally opposed design made the engine inherently reasonably well balanced, so that counterweights on the crankshaft were generally not necessary, reducing the weight greatly.

The flat horizontally opposed (' flat engine') air-cooled engine design, previously used by Volkswagen and Porsche as well as Lycoming aircraft engines, offered many advantages. The heads were modeled after the standard Chevrolet overhead valve design, with large valves operated by rocker arms, actuated by pushrods run off a 9 lobe camshaft (due to the unique engine layout, exhaust lobes operated valves on *both* sides of the engine), running directly in the crankcase bore without an inserted bearing, operating hydraulic valve lifters, as used on most Chevrolet OHV engines. It was a highly unusual engine for General Motors: It was air-cooled, used a flat design, with aluminum heads (incorporating integral intake manifolds) and crankcase, with individual iron cylinder barrels. The Chevrolet Corvair engine was a flat-6 (or boxer engine) piston engine used exclusively in the 1960s Chevrolet Corvair automobile.

Chevrolet 235 engine serial number