Jeep fans will undoubtedly know the name “Hurricane,” as it was the moniker for the F-head four-banger that propelled early Willys CJs—itself a modification of the original “Go Devil” engine which was found under the hoods of those legendary World War II-era Willys MB and Ford GPW Jeeps.
Well, Stellantis is bringing the Hurricane name back, in the form of a twin-turbocharged 3.0L engine that, the company says, is capable of making over 500 hp when properly configured.
And—get this—the engine is an inline six!
So for all of those folks who lamented the passing of Jeep’s iconic 4.0L straight six, perhaps this new Hurricane will fit the bill.
Details on the New 3.0L Twin-Turbo Hurricane I6
The new Hurricane has been in the works for a while now, but the enthusiast community was eagerly awaiting the engine’s official specs. And they’re impressive. Per the Stellantis release, the engine will come in two basic flavors:
- Standard Output (SO): Optimized for fuel economy, including the use of cooled exhaust gas circulation (EGR), while delivering enhanced power and torque (more than 400 hp/450 lb.-ft. of torque)
- High Output (HO): Optimized for great performance (more than 500 hp/475 lb.-ft.) while maintaining significant fuel economy during heavy use, such as towing.
If you’re keeping track at home, those numbers best a lot of turbo V6s and quite a few NA V8s too (including some of the company’s own Hemi engines). Better still, Stellantis says the Hurricane “achieves this V8-rivaling performance while being up to 15% more efficient than larger engines.”
And if you’re wondering where the Hurricane makes its power, there’s more good news. The release says it’s got a “broad, flat torque band that sees the engine maintain at least 90% of peak torque from 2,350 rpm all the way to its red line.”
More 3.0L Hurricane Engine Specs
The Hurricane is an aluminum block engine, and features a pair of turbos—each feeding three cylinders. The Hurricane is direct injected and, depending on the setup, the turbochargers generate from 22 to 26 psi of boost. It’s got dual overhead cams, an aluminum pan, and the HO version gets a forged crank and connecting rods (with cast aluminum pistons).
The High Output version runs 9.5:1 compression and requires 91 octane, the Standard Output engine gets bumped to 10.4:1, and Stellantis says that one needs premium fuel.
Cooling was emphasized on the Hurricane, and the motor has dual water-cooled exhaust manifolds integrated into the cylinder head, and an engine-mounted water-to-air intercooler.
The engine shares a lot of its design with the 2.0 turbo four already available in vehicles like the Jeep Wrangler.
3.0L Hurricane I6 Applications & Availability
We’ve mentioned Jeep a lot already in this article, but it seems like this new powerplant will be equally at home under the hood of a Ram truck or Dodge SUV too. (And wouldn’t it be neat if they could squeeze it into a Challenger?)
We’ll find out soon enough, as Stellantis says we’ll start seeing the Hurricane appear in dealer showrooms by the end of this year.
Love it! What are the final dimensions? Also, what transmission hooks up to it? Can you but it all outright with all the necessary computer controls?
We haven’t see precise external dimensions yet, but this engine is supposedly reported to fit in any current Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep/Ram engine bay that could already accommodate a Gen. III Hemi V8.
The HO version has a lower compression ratio than the standard version?
Yeah Mike, that caught us off guard too when we wrote the story. But here’s a direct copy-n-paste from the press release:
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“Helping the Hurricane HO deliver its enhanced performance are lightweight, oil-jet cooled, forged aluminum pistons with an anodized top ring land and a diamond-like coating (DLC) on the pins to minimize friction. The Hurricane HO runs with a 9.5:1 compression ratio and uses 91 octane premium fuel.
With a focus on fuel economy, the Hurricane SO uses cast aluminum pistons with cast iron top ring land insert, running with a 10.4:1 compression ratio. It’s use of cooled EGR helps reduce engine pumping losses and manage in-cylinder temperatures. Premium fuel is recommended.”
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We’re just guessing here, but it may have something to do with the HO version running more boost? Here’s another copy-n-paste from the release:
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“The turbos on the Hurricane SO deliver peak boost of 22 psi, while the Hurricane HO turbos deliver 26 psi of peak boost.”
A Hemi high-torque twin turbo Hemi that turns at 3400 RPM max can deliver better fuel mileage and power. Remember, the parasitic drag quadruples for every doubling of engine speed or so.
Big rigs don’t use high-revving small engines. They use low-revving large engines.
What is the strange obsession the Euros seem to have with killing the Hemi?
520hp at 3400rpm is 787 ft-lbs. A 6.2L engine will do this at far better efficiency than a 3.0L engine turning at 6800 or whatever.
If small and buzzy was so efficient, big rigs would have 10,000RPM V12’s of 3L or so.
Everyone is comparing small displacement high output engines to the large displacement high-output mills. The small engines are loaded with life shortening internal stresses, but big engines have this fantastic ability to distribute its stresses over engine components that are a minimum of 5 times the size. This is the difference between a 250K engine and 750K engine that is designed to be rebuilt to Zero miles and capable of starting all over.
Funny how for decades the length of a straight 6 was a reason it fell out of favor. Too long for front wheel drive vehicles. V6’s became the norm. What’s old is now new again.
You bring up a good point–I haven’t seen any dimension specs, but it would be interesting to see the physical size of Mazda’s 3.0L (183ci) engine compared to, say, the 300 Ford, 258 AMC, or 225 Slant Chrysler sixes.