Have you ever looked at the new C8 Corvette and thought maybe it could be a little bit better? The new mid-engine Corvette may have some downfalls we didn’t expect, but with all of the anticipation and hype surrounding the car we were bound to get our hopes up a little too high. What we didn’t expect was to be seeing a rotary engine swap to this car so soon – or really, ever.

Corvette purists should stop here because this is where things get sticky. Don’t worry though, this conversion was done to an already wrecked C8 Corvette – yep, people are already out there destroying them. This is the story of the C8 corvette mid-engine rotary swap.

The Wankel rotary engine

If you aren’t familiar with the Wankel rotary engine is, that’s because it isn’t a popular choice for many cars. In fact, Mazda is one of the only manufacturers to ever put a car into a full-scale production with only rotary engine options.

There are some major pitfalls of the Wankel rotary. The historically have offered terrible gas mileage because they burn fuel inefficiently. They also have problems passing emissions laws in some states. They can be high revved and have a very unique but loud sound. The Wankel rotary isn’t known for its reliability, but they are a good choice for creating a car that makes decent amounts of power.

The wrecked C8

Because the C8 Corvette is so new, this rotary swap will be the first of it’s kind, and perhaps the only as this isn’t a common engine choice for many custom builds. The car was wrecked in Florida, and the details of the crash aren’t available. We can see from the video there is an extensive amount of front-end body damage, but luckily this is a mid-engine.

All of the mechanical components of the car were reportedly fine, but the airbags did deploy and the car was overall totaled by the insurance agency, making it a great candidate for a fun project like this.

Being wrecked, this C8 is going to need a lot more than just some bodywork, and the rotary engine swap is guaranteed to be a long, difficult project with many obstacles. There is not currently a mid-engine rotary car, so the choice of transmission will be tricky, and the install will be difficult. But we are hopeful that the car will sound unique and produce a decent amount of power – whether it will produce more power than the original engine will have to wait until this car hits the Dyno.

Love the idea or hate it, this Corvette C8 transition into a Wankel rotary swapped car will be something to pay attention to. While purists might hate it, JDM fans might just like this car even more, and either way, it’s sure to be something interesting and unique.