After hours and hours of block-sanding to get the body arrow straight, Chris Gilbert, Ekstensive's in-house paint guru, applied the BASF Dodge Viper True Blue paint to the truck. Before assembling the Silverado, Chris also took apart the Tahoe headlights and painted the buckets blue to match. Putting parts back onto the Silverado saw a new E&G billet grille installed, LED taillights put into place, and the sheetmetal bed coated in color-matched Armor Liner. Moving to the interior, another special plan was devised to get people scratching their heads.
John Burgess, owner of Twisted Interiors, in Spring, Texas, has worked with Ekstensive for years and when he heard about the special story behind this truck's build, a wild interior was devised. Building a one-off dash, Twisted Interiors incorporated the original gauge cluster and threw the rest of the factory pieces away. A smooth, yet futuristic dash was created using round A/C vents, a fiberglass pod housing a 7-inch monitor, a center-mounted Alpine head unit, and a single air pressure gauge for the 'bags. Two Rockford Fosgate amps were mounted behind the seat and they in turn power two slim-mount 12-inch Rockford Fosgate amps in a custom center console. Trick door panels were also built from fiberglass and house Rockford components. Two Kinetik power cells keep the juice flowing to the audio. Advanced Auto Trim then stepped in and covered the dash, door panels, and center console in leather and recovered the seats in matching black leather and grey suede. A B.A.D. billet wheel caps off the stock steering column and billet pedals round out the wild cab confines. Nearing completion, Ekstensive got busy making the engine bay a real crowd pleaser.
Popping the Tahoe hood reveals an engine that screams custom. With the block and heads painted, a Street and Performance chrome 6.0L intake and throttle-body were bolted into place and are flanked by painted custom sheetmetal coil covers. A chromed Street and Performance serpentine pulley system was installed, along with a Street and Performance air filter, chromed Doug Thorley headers, and chromed hoses. To get the 5.3L running, all-new fuel and brake hoses were routed in stainless. Stopping power comes from a chromed master cylinder and cooling chores are handled by a Ron Davis aluminum radiator. Now Andrew's Chevy was ready for the world to see.
This Silverado serves notice to the custom truck world that the bar is always being raised and when talented people unite for a good cause, the sky is the limit. Custom from front to back, Andrew's Silverado is more than he or his brother could have ever imagined while draggin' down the streets in Tennessee.