In the late 1960s, General Motors began looking for ways to showcase its newly developed rotary engine technology. The automaker’s lead designer at the time, Bill Mitchell, set to work on a mid-engine Corvette prototype called the Aerovette (itself a continuation of the canceled XP-882 mid-engine Corvette prototype) which hit the auto show circuit in 1973 with a four-rotor Wankel engine sitting amidships.
Now, YouTube’s resident Wankel expert, Rob Dahm, is looking to re-create the famed four-rotor Corvette. Dahm has spent the past five years or so building a billet four-rotor powered Mazda RX-7, but he made the decision to switch to a billet block after already acquiring a custom, non-billet four-rotor engine. That means the other four-rotor engine has been sitting in his shop waiting to be used, so he’s now decided to drop it in a mid-engine Corvette C8.
6.2L LT2 V8 in the 2020 Corvette.
GM fans may already be jumping to comment on how this build is sacrilege, but in our opinion, we think it’s rather cool to see the original four-rotor Corvette prototype being recreated using the first production mid-engine Corvette. It’s worth noting that Zora Arkus-Duntov, the father of the Corvette, did not like the idea, as the GM two-rotor engine was to be used in the mass market Chevrolet Vega – a car he did not want to be associated with his beloved Corvette in any way. There’s no denying the rotary engine is an interesting engine and a part of GM’s past, though, so we still think Dahm’s build is a neat idea. That’s not to take away from the great motor that is the 490 horsepower 6.2L LT2 V8 engine that comes stock in the Corvette C8, though.
Hear what Rob has to say about this ambitious undertaking in his announcement video embedded below. We’ll definitely be following Dahm’s Wankel-powered Corvette C8 build in the months (or likely years to come) so stay tuned for more coverage.
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Comments
Waste of time and money as the LT2 6.2L OHV-2v V8 is a purposely designed and built for one application, to serve as the base engine for the C8 Corvette and given the test results, the LT2 is perfect as there’s little that the C8 Corvette cannot achieve well as the 2020 C8 Corvette is instantly a world class super car capable of competing with the world’s elite.
It’s just a 20 minute commercial for Valvoline. real engine swaps are when you take some Brand X Engine, And replace it with the Chevy engine.
There were reasons GM dropped the Rotory.
The emissions are high, the fuel use is high and the noise will require a maze of mufflers to tone it down.
The car that was to share rotory was the Monza not the Vega. Also AMC was to purchase it for the Pacer till GM killed it and they were forced to use an inline 6 that barely fit.
But it’s his car and he can do as he likes.
One of the most stupid things I have ever read.
Anybody out there With a Mazda looking for an LS motor?
Anybody out there With a Mazda looking for an LS motor?
What some YouTubers won’t do to get an audience! For whatever the true cost of this project would be, in labor and parts, one could take their new C8 to an aftermarket tuner, such as Hennessey, or others, and get one or more of their engine mods bumping the horsepower to well over 700, and maybe even close to 1000, and it would likely get a warranty from the modder.