The V8-powered Tesla Model S built by popular YouTuber Rich Rebuilds is unlike any other on earth and was recently strapped to a dyno for the very first time where it delivered some impressive figures.
This Model S started out life as a dual-motor P85D variant but was damaged in a flood and had to be saved by Rich. While the YouTuber has made a name for himself by repairing damaged and broken Tesla models, he thought this Model S would serve as the perfect base to make an old-school sports sedan with an internal combustion engine. He ultimately settled on a 6.2-liter naturally aspirated V8 from a Chevrolet Camaro.
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With the car up and running, Rich took the Tesla to a local tuner where it was strapped to a dyno and given a proper Haltech tune to ensure it runs nice and smoothly.
Initially, the dyno reveals that the car was pumping out around 350 hp at the rear wheels but as it turned out, one of the spark plugs wasn’t working correctly and had to be replaced. When replaced, the engine started to run much better and churned out an impressive 444 hp.
While at the shop, Rich also weighed the car, revealing that it tips the scales at 3,700 lbs (1,678 kg) with a driver. That is a weight saving of more than 1,400 lbs (635 kg) from the typical 4,936 lb (2,238 kg) curb weight of a standard Model S P85D. As such, this V8-powered Model S now has a much better power-to-weight ratio than it did when it was new. And it also happens to sound much better thanks to a pair of side-exiting tailpipes.