When we stumbled upon Kevin Zabiegala's '04 Avalanche, we knew right away it was destined for the pages of Truckin'. The chassis, engine bay, interior, and of course, the paint and body had all been subjected to hours of attention to get every detail correct. But, when you own your own custom shop, and your calling card is seen by show goers-and hopefully magazine readers across the country-you have to do things right.
Auto Toyz Kustomz in Tomball, Texas, had their work cut out for them when they began the work on the Avalanche's suspension. You'd be hard pressed to find a foot of the chassis that hadn't been massaged to get just the right stance. The entire back half of the frame was fabricated to hold the 4-inch narrowed rear end, two-link, and custom 30-gallon fuel cell. The front of the chassis was also labor intensive, as Auto Toyz custom-fabricated upper and lower control arms to mount the stock spindles. Everything in-between was reinforced with 2x3-inch box tubing so that the remainder of the stock frame could be cut out for the stock-floor body-drop. Now, the running boards lay flat on the blacktop. To get a solid ride and an easily adjustable ride height, Slam Specialties RE7 'bags were mounted onto all four corners and plumbed with GC450 valves. KYB shocks were also placed at each corner and help the airbags dampen jolts to the running gear. The most visually appealing portions of the suspension are the 26x10-inch DUB Esinem Floaters and 305/35R26 Pirelli P-Zeros, especially when a quarter of the wheel's lip gets swallowed when the Avalanche bottoms out on the pavement.
Arrival Blue Metallic and Orion Silver Metallic were the colors of choice, with Sunset Orange and plenty of detailed airbrushing splitting the two shades. The airbrushing deserves a close inspection, as skulls on the passenger side gradually gain features until it becomes a Predator on the tailgate. On the driver side, the alien features fade away to reveal a woman's face. The details are amazing. Of course, all of that paint and airbrush work shouldn't be broken up, so the door handles were shaved and the plastic C-pillar trim was smoothed to receive paint. Aside from the paint, an HID headlight conversion and billet grille added to the high-end style of the truck.
Thanks to a stock-floor body-drop,...
Thanks to a stock-floor body-drop, 26x10-inch DUB Esinem Floaters and 305/35R26 Pirelli P-Zeros tuck into the fenderwells.
Four Pioneer 10-inch subs...
Four Pioneer 10-inch subs in a fiberglass console divide the rear buckets and add more blue suede to the interior.
There's more blue underneath...
There's more blue underneath the hood, as the new inner wheelwells, fan shroud, and engine cover were painted.