Rich Rebuilds Built a V8 Tesla

Who is Rich Rebuilds Built a V8 Tesla?

Taken from JRE 1849 w/Rich Benoit:

Topics and Timestamps

• 01Rich Benoit, founder of Rich Rebuilds, discusses his journey building custom vehicles and his viral V8 Tesla project
• 02Rich explains the technical challenges and engineering solutions required to swap a V8 engine into a Tesla
• 03The conversation covers YouTube content creation and how Rich built an audience through documenting unconventional car builds
• 04Rich talks about the automotive industry, Tesla's impact on the market, and traditional car manufacturers' resistance to change
• 05Discussion includes the legality and insurance challenges of building heavily modified custom vehicles
• 06Rich shares his philosophy on innovation, breaking rules, and pushing boundaries in the automotive space
• ▶Rich explains why he built a V8 Tesla and the initial concept0:00:00
• ▶Discussion of the technical engineering challenges of the V8 Tesla swap0:15:00
• ▶Rich talks about building his YouTube channel documenting the build process0:35:00
• ▶Conversation about ownership rights, modification, and car culture0:55:00
• ▶Rich discusses insurance, legal issues, and regulatory challenges with modified vehicles1:15:00

The Show

Joe sits down with Rich Benoit from Rich Rebuilds to talk about one of the internet's most insane automotive projects: dropping a V8 engine into a Tesla. This isn't some theoretical exercise either. Rich actually did it, documented it, and broke the internet in the process.

The conversation kicks off with Rich explaining what possessed him to take a cutting-edge electric vehicle and rip out its soul to replace it with a good old-fashioned internal combustion engine. The whole thing started as a thought experiment but evolved into a legitimate engineering challenge that required solving problems nobody had really tackled before. Rich walks through the technical nightmare of integrating a V8 with Tesla's existing systems, the custom fabrication work, and the absolute madness of actually getting the thing to run.

What's wild about Rich's approach is that he's not some corporate R&D department with unlimited budgets. He's a guy in a shop figuring this out as he goes, documenting everything on YouTube, and building a massive audience in the process. Joe and Rich dig into how content creation and engineering intersect, how Rich's channel blew up by just being honest about the process, and the appeal of watching someone do something completely ridiculous and impossible-seeming.

They also talk about the broader automotive landscape. Rich isn't anti-Tesla or anti-electric. He's more interested in the idea that you should be able to do whatever you want with something you own. The V8 Tesla is partly a statement about ownership, modification rights, and the future of cars. Traditional car manufacturers are terrified of guys like Rich because he represents a threat to their control over the product.

The insurance nightmare and legal gray areas come up too. How do you insure a V8 Tesla? What does registration even look like? These are questions that don't have clear answers because nothing like this has existed before. It's a perfect example of innovation moving faster than regulation can handle.

Best Quotes