With so much buzz generated by the Hellcat V8 landing under the hood of the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX, anybody wishing to remove the supercharged HEMI would need a pretty good excuse for the job. Well, how about replacing this with the Hellephant 426, the mack daddy of Mopar crate engines?
The wordplay that defines the nameplate of the 7.0-liter monster is a nod to both the 426 HEMI "elephant engine" that made racing history in the 1960s and the Hellcat street engine that's been expanding its reach since the 2015 model year.
Introduced in October 2018 as the heart of a 1968 Dodge Charger restomod, the HEMI range-topper is the only such motor that features an aluminum block. It ditches the 2.4-liter blower of the Hellcat engine for a 3.0-liter one delivering 15 psi of boost, which brings the output to 1,000 hp and 950 lb-ft (1,288 Nm) of twist.
The tech goodies mentioned above meant that back in April 2019 when the order books for the initial batch of 100 units were open, it only took two days for all of them to find a home. The price sat at $29,995, plus $2,265 for the engine kit—you may still be able to grab such V8s from third parties, but expect a non-negligible premium on top of the said price.
Now, Hennessey Performance grabbed not one but two Hellephant V8s. And, despite the motor being advertised as a piece of hardware created for pre-1976 vehicles (which don't need to deal with emission standards), the Texan developer is willing to put the engines in a TRX and a Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat.
And enthusiasts keeping an eye on the company don't seem concerned with the challenges posed by the said compatibility. In fact, the question that sits on many gearheads' lips revolves around how the removed Hellcat V8s will be used, but we digress.
For the time being, one of the Lone Star State specialist's Hellephants had landed under the hood of a T-Rex, and you can hear the HEMI waking up in the clip below (you can enjoy the aural magic at the 4:50 timestamp).
Keep in mind that Hennessey has big plans for this Mopar marriage, as it aims to take the engine to 1,200 hp and add a pair of driven wheels to the vehicle, thus creating the Mammoth 6x6.
Meanwhile, though, you can expect the company to have a bit of fun with the "standard" engine and truck, which should include quite a bit of racing.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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