Dodge has summoned another monster from the underworld.
The latest is a new 1,000 hp engine called the “Hellephant” that’s based on the brand’s Hellcat supercharged V8 and will be offered as a crate motor for custom car builders next year.
Its name is a tip of the hat to the original “Elephant” 426 Hemi V8 from the 1960s, and the new engine features an aluminum block with a bigger bore and stroke than the 376 cubic-inch Hellcat’s that brings it up to a historically appropriate 426 cubic-inches.
The engine mixes parts from the engines found in the Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye and Demon with its own high-lift cam and forged pistons. A package that includes a power control module and all of the wiring and sensors needed for installation is offered with it, and a front end accessory drive kit is also available to make the process as easy as possible. This is assuming you have a pre-1976 car to put it in, as it’s not street legal in anything newer than that.
To introduce the engine at the Specialty Equipment Markets Assocation (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, Dodge dropped the Hellephant into a heavily modified 1968 Charger it’s calling the Super Charger. The classic has been updated with a stretched wheelbase, fiberglass fender flares and hood, and a modern six-speed manual transmission. The Charger’s signature hidden flip-over headlights have been replaced with a fixed, full width grille with a set of Hellcat headlights peering through it for a menacing look.
Pricing for the Hellephant and accessory kits hasn’t been announced, but the Hellcat-based Hellcrate motor with its measly 707 hp started at just under $20,000 when it was introduced at SEMA last year.
The Hellephant name is better than the other name they considered, the Hellephino.
Nice is overrated
"It's every freedom-loving individual's duty to lie to the government." Airsoftguy, June 29, 2018
October 31, 2018, 03:39 PM
SIGnified
Must include chassis update, entire power train and linkages, clutch, exhaust, huge brakes, tires, steering and of course the nut behind the wheel.
"Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty." ~Robert A. Heinlein
October 31, 2018, 04:07 PM
sigmonkey
quote:
Originally posted by Sig2340: So why is Dodge doing this? (Answer below)...
(Answer...)
cuz, Buick V6. And they hafta put snails on the engines to slow them down...
(1/4 not 1/8)
"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" ✡ Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
October 31, 2018, 04:23 PM
chellim1
quote:
Pricing for the Hellephant and accessory kits hasn’t been announced, but the Hellcat-based Hellcrate motor with its measly 707 hp started at just under $20,000 when it was introduced at SEMA last year.
Huh... that's an expensive motor. You'd better really be attached to that old car.
"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown
"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor
October 31, 2018, 04:42 PM
craglawnmanor
quote:
Originally posted by Sig2340:
The Hellephant name is better than the other name they considered, the Hellephino.
_______________________________________ Flammable, Inflammable, or Nonflammable....... Hell, either it Flams or it doesn't!! (George Carlin)
October 31, 2018, 04:59 PM
tatortodd
quote:
Originally posted by chellim1:
quote:
Pricing for the Hellephant and accessory kits hasn’t been announced, but the Hellcat-based Hellcrate motor with its measly 707 hp started at just under $20,000 when it was introduced at SEMA last year.
Huh... that's an expensive motor. You'd better really be attached to that old car.
Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity
DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.
October 31, 2018, 05:19 PM
mikeyspizza
It's not hard to spend $10k on just the paint, so $20k for a motor like that is chump change (for folks that are into it).
October 31, 2018, 05:29 PM
Gustofer
Lately I've been searching for a '68 Mustang convertible. It was one of my first cars and I'd love to have another.
Just the other day, I was thinking that with the demand for classic cars, I would think that the big three could make a metric shit ton of money if they would build these classics again.
It would take some doing, of course, to get around EPA rules and such, but wouldn't it be awesome to see some "new" Chevelles, Camaros, and Mustangs rolling down the road? You can't tell me that there wouldn't be a market for them.
Of course, the GTO and Cutlass fans would be fucked, but still....
________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton.
October 31, 2018, 05:30 PM
wreckdiver
Nothing on my old Challenger would hold up to that kind of power, price of the new motor would be small, compared to all the other upgrades needed.
_________________________________________________
"Once abolish the God, and the Government becomes the God." --- G.K. Chesterton
October 31, 2018, 05:33 PM
tatortodd
quote:
Originally posted by Gustofer: Lately I've been searching for a '68 Mustang convertible. It was one of my first cars and I'd love to have another.
Just the other day, I was thinking that with the demand for classic cars, I would think that the big three could make a metric shit ton of money if they would build these classics again.
It would take some doing, of course, to get around EPA rules and such, but wouldn't it be awesome to see some "new" Chevelles, Camaros, and Mustangs rolling down the road? You can't tell me that there wouldn't be a market for them.
Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity
DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.
October 31, 2018, 05:37 PM
Hound Dog
quote:
Originally posted by wreckdiver: Nothing on my old Challenger would hold up to that kind of power, price of the new motor would be small, compared to all the other upgrades needed.
That won't stop a lot of people with more money than sense from plunking that engine in their old car, MacGuyvering it to the drive train, and destroying the car (and/or themselves) the first time they stomp on the gas. . .
Neat concept, though. Would make one heck of a fanboat.
Fear God and Dread Nought Admiral of the Fleet Sir Jacky Fisher
October 31, 2018, 06:39 PM
egregore
What cars are this engine supposed to go in? If I had an original Hemi or 440 that is already a classic muscle car, I wouldn't want to mess it up. If it is supposed to go in an originally 318 car, none of the rest of the drivetrain is going to be usable with 1000 hp.
$168,000? For a car that I can buy original for $30K or less? Yeah...I'll pass.
________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton.
October 31, 2018, 06:59 PM
barndg00
This is just part of the new "Race on Sunday, sell on Monday" idea. Make a monster motor, show it off at SEMA with a 1 off car, put it in your catalogue for a year or two, really only planning to sell 10 or 15 of them - but getting lots of advertising from it about your amazing performance. Doing it as a crate motor is brilliant in my opinion, don't have to deal with any emissions, don't have to really build a usable vehicle - I'd bet money the car they shoehorned it in is nothing but a trailer queen.
However, I can't say that I don't applaud them for doing it. I'd love to see some cars with that in it, properly built to survive that kind of power and torque. Personally, though, my dreams have always been towards a small displacement, hi-revving V8 in an aluminum bodied Cobra replica - a custom 289 (though likely would have to build out a 302 instead).
October 31, 2018, 07:09 PM
hbabler
I guarantee you that engine will make its way into some spectacular cars that can easily handle the power. Most people spending that kind of coin on an engine don’t do the rest of the car half way. There may be some crappy cars with it but I bet it will be powering some amazing pro touring rides very soon. Restomods are hot right now, a car that appears old and is high tech and high performance underneath. I commend dodge for doing, its impressive and that comes from a dyed in the wool bowtie lover.
October 31, 2018, 07:37 PM
apf383
quote:
Originally posted by hbabler: I guarantee you that engine will make its way into some spectacular cars that can easily handle the power. Most people spending that kind of coin on an engine don’t do the rest of the car half way. There may be some crappy cars with it but I bet it will be powering some amazing pro touring rides very soon. Restomods are hot right now, a car that appears old and is high tech and high performance underneath. I commend dodge for doing, its impressive and that comes from a dyed in the wool bowtie lover.
Spot on assessment imho. Right up until the last line, but only because I’m a Mopar guy.
Foster's, Australian for Bud
October 31, 2018, 07:52 PM
thumperfbc
Yea, the type of guy who would spend 20k on the engine is the same guy who will replace everything else needed. I'm sure they will sell a significant amount to the Mopar guys, and you might even find some making their way into old Ford's and Chevy's.
I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure the same amounts of power can be accomplished while spending much less... I've got a few friends into LS series swaps and they say you can do crazy stuff with those. One of them transplanted a LS motor into his Fox body mustang. Not street legal but he enjoys taking it to the straight track on a regular basis. When I asked if he found it a sacrilege to put that engine in a Mustang he shrugged and stated it was a good engine that was fairly easy to make big power from. He's trying to get me to take the ZZ4 out of my Nova and go with a LS.
November 01, 2018, 08:08 AM
JohnCourage
who will be first to drop it in a Backdraft cobra. Death Rocket!!
JC
November 01, 2018, 08:15 AM
Southflorida-law
GM is killing them with the LS crate engines. The market is there.
