Listen to an LS-Swapped Tesla Model S Start up for the First Time
Aside from being the world’s biggest troll job, this LS-swapped Tesla is also a pretty entertaining project.
YouTuber Rich Rebuilds has been working on an LS-Swapped Tesla Model S for some time now, but waiting on parts has unfortunately delayed the build for weeks. Regardless, he’s back at it in this new video, which sees some major progress on the blasphemous build. For those that aren’t familiar with Rich or his channel, we are talking about a guy that spent considerable time propping up the all-electric automaker in prior times, but the crazed rants of countless fanboys and an unfortunate experience regarding Supercarging access for salvaged cars undoubtedly helped inspire this particular build.
Regardless, Rich has a perfectly sane explanation for why his LS-powered Model S is actually helping to save the environment, not hurt it. “Tesla isn’t going to sell me a new battery,” he explains. “And finding a battery elsewhere is like finding the lost city of Atlantis, which is only possible if you know Aquaman. Even then, I end up playing the cat and mouse game with Tesla shutting off my Supercharger access. How do I be more sustainable than Tesla by a factor of two?”
Of course, Rich tinkers with all kinds of cool stuff on his channel, from his C6 Z06 that he’s owned for a long time to a Sherp tank that he recently picked up, but this LS-swapped Tesla might just be his best project yet, at least in our opinion. The Model S was a flooded insurance write-off that Rich tore apart and saved its parts for future projects, at which point a light bulb went off – why not LS swap it and irritate the masses?
Thus, he set out to do exactly that. First, Rich located a 6.2-liter LS3 V8 out of a wrecked Camaro SS, at which point he and his team spent a whole lot of time figuring out how to install it in a car that was never designed for internal combustion power. Now that Rich has finally secured his Haltech standalone harness and a custom fuel system, the real fun can begin.
After a little bit of tinkering, the LS3 starts right up and subsequently starts a minor fire thanks to a little fuel leakage, but in the end, it’s an easy fix. The real news here is that the LS-Swapped Tesla Model S is alive, and Rich can address the haters one more time.
“To those saying I’m going backward and spending money to make the car slower, enjoying life making something no one has ever seen with friends and watching the world react is something I hope you get to experience someday. Don’t worry about how someone else is spending their money and stick to what you do best,” he concludes.
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