Article
and Photos by
Bryan Fross |
Bringing a large SUV to the
pavement is not an easy task. The task gets even more difficult when you want to
cruise it around on are large diameter wheels. Dennis 'Doug-E-Fresh' Whinnery
from Brea, California owns this 1997 Chevrolet Tahoe LT with a simple, clean
look and smooth riding suspension thanks to a little ingenuity.
That ingenuity resulted in a
frame-laying SUV that still rides comfortably on the constantly
under-construction Southern California roads. The Tahoe rides on four Firestone
2600 lb. airbags that are filled by four
Firestone 337 compressors and eleven gallons of air storage. The front
suspension is where the crew at CVN Motorsports had to get inventive and take an
idea from another genre of automotive fabrication. It was treated to an engine
cage that was fabricated in order to get full turning radius and a smooth ride.
Then the rear was modified with a step-notch, an Air Ride Technologies 4-link
with panhard bar, and wheels tubs to accommodate the 22 x 9.5 Tezzen Virus wheels wrapped in 265-35-22 Hankook
Ventus tires. The stock fuel tank was then removed and replaced with a 18-gallon
fuel cell.
Cleaning up the body of Dennis'
Tahoe was an easier task but still required some attention to detail and changes
to the vehicles stock appearance by Metal Art. The stock taillights were
replaced with 1993 Cadillac taillights. The rest of the rear end was also
modified including shaving the rear door handle and molding in a roll pan. The
antenna was also shaved along with installing a smooth wiper cowl,
color matched mirrors, and color matching the door handles. The truck was
repainted the factory silver using DuPont silver paint mixed with ice violet
pearl by Merzees Paint and Body. A Street Scene chrome speed grill was installed
along with diamond cut headlights, turn signal lights and corner lights. The
finish off the front, a chrome
bowtie and smoothie front bumper were also added. The factory roof rack was
unbolted and billet caps were installed.
Once the
SUV was done with it's major body and suspension changes the interior was ready
to be re-installed but not before a few more upgrades were added. The factory
leather seats were taken apart at the seams. In-seat massagers were installed
for a comforting back massage while rolling and black center inserts were added
for a more custom look. The gauges are Nu Image platinum series surrounded by a
billet gauge bezel. Other billet pieces were added including a light switch
bezel, lighter, pedals, air conditioning and heating controls, shifter and door
jamb vents. A full carbon fiber interior kit was added including a half wrap
leather and carbon fiber Cadillac Escalade style steering wheel.
Kustom Rydes Unlimited installed the
Audio/Video system which utilizes a
Kenwood KVT-911 touch-screen, flip-up, in-dash DVD monitor. The headrests for
the front seats were sliced into and two Kenwood LZ-800W 7-inch touch screen
headrest monitors reside in them for the second row passengers to watch movies
or use the Playstation 2 that was installed. the factory speakers were removed
for better sounding, higher wattage Kenwood replacements powered by a Kicker
600.4 amplifier. For the low notes, there are two Kicker 1200.1 amplifiers
running the four Kicker L7 subwoofers all in a custom fiberglass enclosure that
has been built over the wheel tubs and is paintede to match the exterior of the
Tahoe.
The
factory 5.7-liter Vortec V8 motor is sufficient power to keep dennis going
strong but a few things were changed to leave no part of Dennis' Tahoe
un-modified. A Flowmaster exhaust, K&N cold air intake, high
output alternator, and dual Optima yellow top batteries keep things running and
rolling
Dennis would like to give a special thanks to Chad Nappi from CVN
Motorsports, Flounder, Brian Welsh, Phil Traverse from Kustom Rydes Unlimited,
Bobby from Metal Art, Jeff Mersey from Merzees Paint and Body, Jamie Fifield and
Mike D the crew at Advantage Auto Sports, Mom, Dad, and everyone else who has
helped along the way.
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