Hellephant 426 Makes Drag Strip Debut in Dodge Demon
Extremely badass Dodge Demon employed new Hellephant crate engine for history making run.
Ever since the original Hellcat debuted in 2014, FCA has been on a hot streak. All sorts of performance models have popped up. Heck, even Jeep got in on the game. But none of the newer engines, as ferocious as they are in the SRT line, pack 1,000 horsepower. Mopar fixed that with their Hellephant 426 crate engine. It seems we were simply biding our time until someone installed it into something.
That person is AJ Berge. The proprietor of Hemituner Performance swapped a Hellephant into a late model Dodge Challenger Demon. As a result, he quite possibly owns the first Hellephant swapped Demon in the world. Early results at the drag strip are promising. The car performed well and the engine is a key component of an ongoing project.
A Wild Animal
Originally introduced in 2018, the Hellephant became available for pre-order last year. The 1,000 horsepower and 950 Ibs.-ft of torque supplied by the crate engine is the most powerful of its kind from Mopar. At $29,995, it’s not exactly cheap either, which is why we haven’t seen many of them surface inside the engine bays of project cars. That’s a substantial upgrade from the Demon’s engine. By contrast, the stock Demon offer buyers 808 horsepower and 770 Ibs.-ft of torque. The Hellephant also benefits from an aluminum block, which is not something offered by the regular Hellcat or Demon engines.
Berge developed his Demon with a small wheel conversion for the rears. Additionally, there might be some other engine modifications. But for the most part the Challenger in question is simply a Demon with a Hellephant engine in it. A recent dyno test revealed some pretty good news too. FCA’s official Hellephant numbers appear to be a bit understated. That test showed the engine making about 944 horsepower at the wheels. Basically, assuming some loss from the drivetrain, the thing is quite possibly putting out more than 10 percent the advertised horsepower!
Worth Every Penny
Preliminary results by Hemituner Performance are extremely encouraging. At it’s first 1/4 mile run the Hellephant-equipped Demon ran a 9.27 second run to 150 mph. What’s especially impressive about that figure is the fact that it ran on unleaded 93 octane. That is quite the achievement. In the description section for the video that shows the run, a member of the team expressed the company’s enthusiasm for the project. “So far the Hellephant is far exceeding our expectations, the engine delivers power like I have never experienced to date with these cars,” says the employee.
No one would fault the team for stopping at simply making sure the Hellephant worked well with the Demon. But that’s not what’s happening. As reported by autoevolution, Hemituner Performance plans to enhance the 426 beyond its current capabilities. The engine will receive enough upgrades to take it to 448 cubic inches. Apparently, the goal is to hit at least an 8.8 second 1/4 mile figure.
Similar setups may not actually be in the cards anytime soon. Rumors point to low production numbers for the Hellephant. And Demon owners probably aren’t looking to rip apart their fairly new cars anytime soon. Which means this particular ride just might be one of a kind. At some point another Hellephant-equipped ride will show up at some point, but those will probably surface inside some vintage medal. Hopefully the team behind this monster keeps us updated to their progress.
Photos: FCA, Hemituner Performance
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