A 1,025-HP Hellephant Crate Engine Just Became The Easiest Way To Channel Hellcat-Dominating Power
Direct Connection just turned the hardest part of a high-power V8 swap into a part number. The Stellantis performance arm unveiled six turnkey HEMI crate engine packages at SEMA 2026, and the headline act is the Hellephant C170, a supercharged 6.2-liter making 1,025 hp and 945 lb-ft of torque on E85. What matters more than the number is how it ships: every package now comes bundled with its own wiring harness, power distribution center, programmed control module, and sensors, instead of landing on a pallet as a bare long-block.
For builders, that’s the real breakthrough. Wiring and tuning a four-digit-horsepower engine previously demanded significant time and money. Direct Connection now bundles the electrical components under one part number, making ambitious swaps more accessible.
Six Packages, One Part Number Each
The lineup starts with the 345 Crate HEMI, a 5.7-liter unit offered in Street Strip and Super Stock trim, both rated at 385 hp and 417 lb-ft. Super Stock gets a new block instead of a remanufactured one, plus the high-RPM valve springs, oil pump, and oil cooler borrowed from Redeye-spec engines. Step up to the 392 Crate HEMI, a 6.4-liter Gen III unit also sold in Street Strip and Super Stock form, and output climbs to 485 hp and 475 lb-ft.
The Hellcrate Redeye brings in forced induction, a supercharged 6.2-liter making up to 885 hp and 787 lb-ft in High Octane Mode, which requires premium fuel to hit its peak rating. At the top sits the Hellephant C170, running a 3.0-liter IHI supercharger, a 105-millimeter throttle body, and an ethanol sensor that lets the controller adjust timing and fueling as the E85 blend ratio shifts. Direct Connection still sells the older 426-based Hellephant A30, a 7.0-liter engine rated at 1,000 hp without a flex-fuel tune, so the C170 edges it out by 25 hp while running smaller displacement.
Why The Wiring Kit Is The Actual Story
Every package pairs the engine with a matched controller kit: wiring harness, flashed powertrain control module, oxygen sensors, accelerator pedal, and starter relay. Automatic applications add a shifter, transmission control module, and brake switch, built to run the TorqueFlite 8HP90 eight-speed. Builders who’d rather row their own gears can spec a TREMEC manual instead.
That bundling is what separates this from a typical crate engine listing. Getting a modern, computer-controlled HEMI running in a pre-1976 muscle car or a restomod has usually meant sourcing a harness separately, then paying a tuner to sort out a standalone engine management system from scratch. Direct Connection is now selling that entire electrical side as a validated unit, backed by a 3-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty.
Availability, Compatibility, And What’s Still Unknown
Direct Connection says all six packages go on sale in the first quarter of 2027, with transmissions sold separately and covered under their own 12-month/12,000-mile warranty. The engines are intended for vehicles built before the 1976 model year or dedicated competition builds, which puts them squarely in restomod and track-car territory rather than late-model service replacement. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, so shops budgeting a build around the Hellephant will need to wait on Direct Connection’s official listing for hard numbers before locking in a plan.
The bigger shift here isn’t the horsepower ceiling; it’s who can reach it. A four-digit crate HEMI with a warranty and a plug-and-play harness puts Demon-adjacent output within reach of shops that would’ve previously had to fabricate their way there.
Related posts
Latest Post
No Comments