#CrateEngines

On Wednesday, Chevrolet Performance announced the ZZ632/1000 — a naturally aspirated 632-cubic-inch (10,348 cc) V8 producing 1,004 horsepower and 876 lb-ft of torque on pump gasoline.

While 100 hp per liter may not be an engineering marvel today, delivering a crate motor that’s sized to embarrass every other powertrain installed into a production vehicle is an achievement in itself. This 10.3-liter behemoth makes the 8.4-liter V10 installed in Dodge’s Viper (rest in peace) look like it’s supposed to be fitted to a riding lawnmower. Of course, it’s also huge in comparison to literally every powertrain we’ve seen on a project car that didn’t source its parts from vintage aircraft.

North of the border, Wednesday dawned on a country celebrating a significantly less festive, no-touch national holiday. No fireworks and crowds on this COVID-y Canada Day, just locals lighting them off from the roofs of walk-ups in your author’s humble neighborhood. The “crowd” outside the Burger King hasn’t grown or shrunk in size (and remains just as clandestine as before).

This year, however, Americans have good reason to join in the celebration.

Remember when we told you you could purchase Fiat Chrysler’s beastly, 1,000-horsepower Hellephant crate engine last week? Well, you’ve missed the window. After just a few days of availability, Mopar’s mightiest engine is entirely sold out.

According to Allpar, FCA’s inventory was depleted within 48 hours of pre-orders opening for “Hemi Day” (April 26th) after third-party sources began saying the motor was no longer available. The outlet posited that the $29,995 hand-built unit was likely produced in extremely limited numbers and reached out to the manufacturer for verification about its availability.

Apparently, today is Hemi Day in our vast autoverse, though Twitter tells me it’s also Lesbian Visibility Day, while Wikipedia informs me that John Wilkes Booth was shot through the neck in a Virginia farmhouse on this day in 1865.

But yes, Hemi Day. April 26th … 4/26. Get it?

Appropriately, Fiat Chrysler waited for choose this calendar date to open pre-orders for its monstrous “Hellephant” 426 crate engine, a 1,000-horsepower, 950 lb-ft beast of an powerplant designed to turn your pre-1976 Mopar into an object of fear and testosterone-fueled lust. It now has a price tag.

It’ll have not escaped your notice that the performance arm of FCA is currently going all-in on horsepower. Numbers cresting the 700 mark currently reside in SUVs, while the march towards the stratosphere continues in the Challenger. I firmly believe that, even at 840 horsepower, they haven’t yet reached the upper limits of what a speed-crazed Mopar fan can buy right off the showroom floor.

If that same fan is willing to deal with the “some assembly required” mantra, they can now treat themselves to Mopar’s new Hellephant engine — a supercharged beast making 1,000 horsepower.

Chevrolet is responding to Dodge’s introduction of a Hellcat-based crate engine intended for project cars that absolutely have to produce an obscene amount of horsepower. The “Hellcrate” was introduced last year, making 707 hp, for the low price of $19,530 — which actually sounds kind of expensive when you say it out loud.

Not to be outdone, General Motors is offering a trio of new engines to complement its already full stable. There’s the supercharged 6.2-liter LT5 from the Corvette ZR1, which should trump Dodge’s mill at 755 hp, and two naturally aspirated alternatives that should be sufficient for most applications. The company is also taking them to SEMA, affixed to some vintage Chevy models to stoke consumer interest. Hence the sinister-looking, LT5-equipped 1973 Chevelle Laguna pictured above.

Between Mopar’s 707-horsepower Hellcat engine and Honda’s 306-horsepower turbocharged 2.0-liter from the Civic Type R, the crate engine gods have smiled on both axles today.

Like Mopar, Honda took advantage of this week’s SEMA show in Las Vegas to announce the availability of the front-drive monster’s engine in standalone form. No doubt this news immediately inspired visions of the cobbled-together HR-V Type R you really wanted, but be warned. This engine comes with an asterisk.

This should lead to more than a few odd pairings. Mopar, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ performance and aftermarket parts division, will now offer a Dodge SRT Hellcat engine — the company’s 707 horsepower, supercharged 6.2-liter V8 — minus the car.

Dubbed the “Hellcrate,” the warranty-backed engine and associated kit was unveiled Monday ahead of this week’s SEMA show in Las Vegas. This means Mopar fans looking to own a 707-hp beast have other options than just visiting an FCA dealer and signing on the dotted line for a new vehicle.

Hyundai used the SEMA show to announce a new crate engine program starting in December that will offer the company’s Lambda 3.8-liter, direct-injected V6 and Theta 2.0-liter, turbocharged 4-cylinder engines to aftermarket tuners at significant discounts over the cost of similar replacement engines.