Tucci’s 800-HP Twin-Turbo Coyote V8 Maverick Hits SEMA 2026
Ford has never bothered building a V8 Maverick, and it probably never will. That’s exactly why Tucci Hot Rods decided to do it themselves. The father-and-son shop out of Marcy, New York, is stuffing a twin-turbo 5.0-liter Coyote V8 into Ford’s compact pickup, chasing a number north of 800 horsepower, and they’re aiming to roll it onto the SEMA Show floor in Las Vegas this November 3-6.
That’s not a typo or a misread caption. The stock Maverick tops out at 250 hp from its EcoBoost four-cylinder, or 191 hp if you go hybrid. Tucci’s build is targeting more than triple the EcoBoost figure, using an engine family that was never designed to sit anywhere near this truck’s engine bay. As far as anyone can tell, nobody has documented a Coyote swap into a Maverick before this one.
Fitting A Mustang Engine Where It Was Never Supposed To Go
The Coyote is a wide, dual-overhead-cam V8 built to sit lengthwise in a rear-drive chassis. The Maverick’s factory engines mount sideways and drive the front wheels off Ford’s C2 platform, the same underpinnings shared with the Bronco Sport and Escape. That mismatch meant Tucci couldn’t just drop the V8 in and bolt up some mounts. The shop had to cut away a large section of the transmission tunnel and part of the firewall to get the engine positioned correctly, then fabricate custom mounts from scratch. Tucci Hot Rods put it plainly on Instagram: this swap is “not for the faint of heart.”
Behind the Coyote sits a ZF 8HP70 eight-speed automatic instead of the Mustang’s factory 10-speed. It’s a common swap transmission, and companies like LOJ Conversions sell adapters specifically for pairing the 8HP70 with Coyote V8s, which likely explains the choice. Both the engine and gearbox are now fully mounted in the truck, based on Tucci’s recent build updates.
Twin Turbos Turn A Stout V8 Into A Different Animal
In the 2026 Mustang GT, the Coyote makes 480 hp and 415 lb-ft. Stick it in a Dark Horse and dual throttle bodies push that to 500 hp and 418 lb-ft. Tucci isn’t stopping there. The shop has tagged Hellion Turbo Systems, known for turbo kits built around Coyote-powered Mustangs, and multiple outlets have pegged the target at over 800 hp, though Tucci hasn’t published an official figure yet.
Other tagged partners round out the picture: Mishimoto for cooling, HP Tuners for calibration, and VMP Performance, a Ford-focused tuning shop. That lineup suggests this isn’t a one-and-done turbo bolt-on. Expect upgraded cooling capacity to feed those turbos and a calibration strategy built to actually live with the power, not just flash it on a dyno once.
This Isn’t Tucci’s First Maverick Rodeo
Tucci Hot Rods showed up to SEMA before with a Maverick, and it wasn’t a footnote. The shop’s 2021 widebody build, designed with input from Dave’s son Dom, wore 3D-printed fender flares, a front lip, a roof spoiler, and turbofan-style wheels. Ford CEO Jim Farley praised the truck in person, and it won the Ford Performance award for best vehicle on Ford’s own stand that year.
According to Ford Authority, the attention that first build generated helped Maverick designer Josh Blundo get the green light to develop the 2025 Maverick Lobo. This new V8 project appears to be using that same 2021 widebody truck as its starting point, which gives it a documented history of actually moving the needle inside Ford rather than just existing as a show trailer queen.
Ford is not going to build a factory V8 Maverick. The whole point of the truck is a low price and good fuel economy, and a twin-turbo Coyote wrecks both. But Tucci’s last Maverick proved a shop build can still shape what Ford eventually sells, and that alone makes this one worth keeping an eye on when it rolls into Las Vegas this November.
Related posts
Latest Post
No Comments