Hellephant-swapped Jeep Gladiator Is a 1000-HP Slam Dunk
YouTuber pushes the limits of his new Gladiator with FCA’s hellish crate motor. We really doubt the top speed of the Gladiator will be 97 mph anymore.
If you recall, last week we released an article about the top speed of a new 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon. This video was made by the ever-popular automotive YouTuber TheStradman. We discovered that the V6 Pentastar engine in the Gladiator had a top speed electronically limited to a lowly 97 mph while doing its top speed run in the Utah salt marshes. This was disappointing to TheStradman so he told us that his plan would be swap his Gladiator with a V8.
While the car has seen some modification since we last saw it, including a bright metallic purple wrap job and a big wheel and tire upgrade, this week, he begins the V8 swap. We were unsure of what V8 he was going to choose, but our minds were literally blown when we discovered the plan was to swap in a Hellephant crate engine from Mopar.
For those unfamiliar, you might have heard you could buy a Hellcat engine, sporting its 707-HP straight from the dealership. While that’s all good and fun, Dodge also offered a much more ridiculous option: the Hellephant. This engine is rated at 1,000 HP and 950 lb-ft of torque stock. At those numbers, the Hellcat engine seems like a beginner’s power plant. Another big number associated with the Hellephant is the cost. Over 30 grand with the install kit, it isn’t far off from the cost of the Gladiator itself. A person in the comments section of the video described it best, “Honestly, he’s playing Forza in real life”. This is going to be a hell of a build.
We assume, traction being the limiting factor now, that the Gladiator should be able to hit its old top speed of 97 mph in a matter of seconds. Now, the only thing limiting finding the new top speed of the truck will be overcoming the fear of pushing the acceleration pedal more and more.
We previously had stated that there would be a solution to fixing the V6 Pentastar engine that comes in the stock 2020 Gladiator. This isn’t what we were thinking of even in the slightest, it was just too crazy. However, we will say that we are happy to see a build this ridiculous unfolding on a weekly basis. With TheStradman, it seems the sky is the limit with building ridiculous rides, so we’ll just have to keep looking up to keep up with what’s going on.
Photos: Screenshots
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