2005 Dodge Ram 1500 on 2040-cars

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All hail the Hellephant, Mopar's 1,000-horsepower crate engine

It's shocking to say this, but the all-powerful Dodge Demon looks weak now that Mopar has unleashed the Hellephant. This crate motor makes 1,000 horsepower and 950 pound-feet of torque, and its name is a combination of the nickname for the old 426-cubic-inch Hemi V8 and, obviously, the Hellcat. This monster is a 426-cubic-inch version of the current third-generation Hemi V8 topped by a supercharger similar to what the Hellcat line packs. Everything is cranked up to — or perhaps, past — 11. The engine block is made of aluminum and weighs 100 pounds less than the equivalent iron block. All of the internals are forged. The stroke and bore have been increased. The supercharger produces 15 pounds of boost and displaces 3 liters; more than the 2.7-liter blower on the Demon and the 2.4-liter blower on the Hellcat. And as big and powerful as it is, it will still rev to 7,000 rpm. It's a thoroughly monstrous motor, but shockingly, it won't be that difficult to live with. For one thing, Mopar will offer a complete kit to get the engine up and running, including an engine computer, wiring harness and drive-by-wire throttle. It also runs on 93-octane pump gas. That's especially amazing considering the Demon engine "only" makes 840 horsepower, and that's on race gas with 100+ octane fuel. It also has us wondering what the Hellephant could make on racing fuel. The Mopar folks did say that there's room to add more power. Pricing wasn't announced for the Hellephant engine. The Hellcat crate engine retails at $19,350 directly from Mopar, so it's safe to assume that the Hellephant will go for more. The installation kit with the computer and harness will be an extra charge of likely over $2,000, based on the Hellcat kit. The engine and the kit will be available in the first quarter of 2019. Related Video: Featured Gallery Hellephant Crate Engine SEMA Show Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM Performance dodge demon hellephant

Junkyard Gem: 2005 Dodge Neon AAR

Chrysler sold the Neon in North America for the 1995 through 2005 model years, with respectable sales for most of that period. The Neon had decent power for the price, and could be very quick on a road course in the hands of a good driver. With so many made, the Neon came to have a strong aftermarket for performance and customizing components, and many owners opted to spruce up their cars for added coolness. Here's a last-year-of-production Dodge Neon SXT with some SRT-4 body components and aftermarket "AAR" stripes, spotted in a self-service yard in Fargo, N.D. Chrysler sold AAR-badged Plymouth 'Cudas in 1970, inspired by Dan Gurney's All American Racers team in SCCA racing, and the stripes on those cars looked great. However, no factory-made AAR Neons ever came off the assembly line, so the owner of this car applied these aftermarket stripes. The VIN tells me it's an ordinary Neon SXT. The SRT-4 hood looks mean. While this car does have a proper manual transmission, its power came from a distinctly non-SRT naturally-aspirated 2.0-liter 16-valve engine. With 132 horses, this car would have been reasonably quick. Brake calipers look better with the application of a little spray paint. Someone loved this car very much, so it made me sad to see it among all the rust victims of Fargo. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. "Here comes the hot Neon SXT. Always sporty and sooo extra good!"

Autoblog Podcast #317

Mitsubishi Mirage, Toyota thinks of beefing up US production, Marchionne on Alfa, Dart and minivans, Ford Atlas concept, Honda Gear concept
Episode #317 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Jeff Ross and Michael Harley bookend the other podcast topics with a pair from the Montreal Auto Show, the Mitsubishi Mirage and Honda Gear concept, and in between we talk about Toyota building all its US-market cars stateside, Hyundai building a Nurburgring test facility, Sergio Marchionne's latest words about Alfa Romeo, Dodge Dart powertrains and the future of Chrysler vans. Some chatter about the Ford Atlas concept finishes up the meat of the 'cast and then we wrap with your questions. For those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Keep reading for our Q&A module for you to scroll through and follow along, too. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #317: