Ford Megazilla 2.0 Makes 1,200 HP, Beating Its Own 1,000-HP Target
Ford’s 7.3-liter V8 earned its “Godzilla” nickname when it debuted in the 2020 Super Duty with 430 hp and 475 lb-ft, which is great for towing a camper but hardly the stuff of drag strip legend. Ford Performance then turned the truck-born Godzilla V8 into the Megazilla crate engine and pushed it to 615 hp.
At SEMA 2026, Ford went much further by adding a supercharger, stuffing the result into a Bronco called Frostwarden, and claiming a record no other automaker has matched.
Why 1,000 HP Was The Magic Number For Factory Crate Engines
Mopar fired the first big shot at SEMA 2018 with the “Hellephant,” a supercharged 7.0-liter Hemi making 1,000 hp and 950 lb-ft. It became the first OEM crate engine to reach four digits, and it went on sale for $29,995. The updated Hellephant A30 returned in 2025 with the same output and a $34,995 price tag.
Chevrolet answered in 2021 with the ZZ632/1000, a 10.3-liter big-block that makes 1,004 hp and 876 lb-ft without any boost. Better yet, it does that on 93-octane pump gas, a trick very few 1,000-hp engines can pull off.
Ford’s first Megazilla played in a different league, with 615 hp and 670 lb-ft from its naturally aspirated pushrod V8. Forged internals and a simple bolt-in design made it a favorite for truck and classic swaps, and everything worth knowing about Ford’s original Megazilla points to an engine built for builders rather than bragging rights. Even so, it sat well short of the 1,000-hp club.
Megazilla 2.0 Clears 1,200 HP With A Whipple And A Stronger Block
The new Megazilla 2.0 makes over 1,200 hp and over 1,000 lb-ft, enough for Ford to call it the most powerful crate engine ever built by an automaker. A 3.0-liter Gen 6 Whipple supercharger sits on top of the 7.3-liter V8 and does most of the heavy lifting. That’s roughly double the original Megazilla’s output and 200 hp more than the Hellephant.
This isn’t a Megazilla 1.0 with a blower bolted on top, but a new development program. The 2.0 gets a stronger block, a supercharger-specific camshaft, upgraded pistons, larger fuel injectors, and a different belt drive and damper. Pretty much every part that has to survive all that boost got beefed up.
Ford’s January 2025 announcement only targeted “1,000+ hp,” and that number would have merely tied the Hellephant. Anyone who read about it when Ford first promised 1,000-plus hp from a supercharged Megazilla got a pleasant surprise at SEMA, where the extra 200 hp turned a tie into a clear win.
Ford rates the engine on race fuel under the SAE J607 standard, and notes that peak horsepower and torque may not arrive at the same time. It hasn’t published a pump-gas figure yet. The ZZ632 makes its 1,004 hp on pump gas, so Chevy fans can fairly argue the comparison isn’t perfectly even.
Frostwarden Is The Arctic Rescue Bronco Built To Show Off Megazilla 2.0
Frostwarden is the first vehicle to carry the Megazilla 2.0, and Ford built it as an Arctic search-and-rescue Bronco. It rides on 42-inch BFGoodrich tires and custom 18-inch Weld beadlock wheels, with portal gear lifts, upgraded Dana driveline hardware, and custom Bilstein dampers. Ford won’t sell it, so think of it as a very loud brochure for the engine.
Ford Racing Parts’ Michael Goodwin pitched the idea, and work started in February before the physical build ramped up in June. The final push in October was a classic SEMA scramble: the finished engine came off the dyno and went overnight to Kincer’s shop in Tennessee, where it dropped straight into the full Frostwarden Bronco build Ford created around this 1,200-hp engine.
The Megazilla 2.0 is a competition engine, so it isn’t street legal. Builders who want boost on the road can grab the supercharged 5.0-liter Coyote crate engine instead, with over 800 hp and a two-year, 24,000-mile limited warranty.
Ford hasn’t announced Megazilla 2.0 pricing yet. The original Megazilla 1.0 currently retails for $25,295, so expect the 2.0 to cost a good deal more once the Whipple and upgraded internals hit the bill.
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