Bagged ’07 Silverado LTZ on 26-Inch Raceline Blast 6 wheels with an HD front clip

A SIMPLE SILVERADO THAT GETS JOB DONE

Customizing trucks is like catching a disease that can never be cured. It has already infected most of us and makes it hard for any of us to leave a vehicle in its factory form. In many cases, it’s something inherited from your family, which is how it went down for Blake Schwerin. He and his father have worked on many classic cars together, paving the way for Blake to do his own thing.

Years later, Blake had already completed numerous ground-scraping trucks and was looking for a rig to tow them. Through a search on Craigslist, he found this ’07 Silverado 1500 that looked clean enough to drive on a daily basis and could serve as an occasional tow pig. At the time of the purchase, Blake had only planned on using the truck for its capabilities and had no intention of customizing it, but we know that if you’re a true automotive enthusiast there’s never any room in the driveway for a stock vehicle.

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To add fuel to the fire burning inside of Blake, his good friend Jeremy Simpson works for California Hot Rod and Fab Shop and is capable of building trucks. One thing lead to another and the idea of slamming the Silverado seemed to stick. Soon enough, Blake dropped off the truck at California Hot Rod and Fab Shop so that Jeremy and Kris Carroll could work some magic on the beast.

KEEPING THINGS SIMPLE AND CLEAN UNDER THE HOOD, SEVERAL COMPONENTS WERE RELOCATED FOR THE SUSPENSION AND A PAIR OF WHEEL TUBS WAS MADE TO FINISH THE BUILD OFF RIGHT.

To start things off, the front suspension was completely disassembled. Next, the spring perch and upper control arm mounts were removed to make way for the Ekstensive Metalworks front kit that corrects the suspension geometry for airbags. With the new front-end bracket installed, the Ekstensive lower arms and factory uppers were attached to the frame. A set of Firestone 2,600-pound airbags was added, and the lower ball joints were flipped before the spindles could be reinstalled.

Even though the front suspension was complete, there was still a lot more work necessary to make the front wheels tuck. For instance, the firewall needed to be cut and notched because the parking brake had been removed. Then the fuse box, coolant reservoir and computer were relocated, while the Optima Yellow Top battery was mounted behind the bumper. For the back, the rearend was narrowed a total of 7 inches and mounted to an Ekstensive 2-link with custom track bar and another pair of Firestone ’bags. A step notch in the frame and a two-piece driveshaft salvaged from a 2004 Silverado and extended 2 inches helps with suspension travel. The factory fuel tank was raised a few inches to clear the pavement, and an AccuAir eXo mount was used to attach the compressors, air tanks and VU4 valve manifold under the bed. To assist with control over the system, an AccuAir e-Level system was hooked up.

Though the truck was looking good with a frame-dragging suspension, Blake wanted to up the ante on the exterior. The first thing added was the Silverado HD front clip that was pieced together from parts bought on Craigslist and GM. To make way for the large wheels, the inner fenders were trimmed and a pair of wheel tubs was created to cover the openings. To make more room in the engine compartment, the factory hood hinge springs were tossed and an Ekstensive hood strut kit was installed. On the back end, the bed floor was cut open for the frame notch and wheels. Another set of tubs was created as well as a notch cover that has a shocker logo to show the ladies what’s up. Then Jeremy covered the bed floor with a spray-on liner. Todd Carson, of Classic Collision Repair, painted the major stuff like the front clip to match the GM Greystone paint on the rest of the truck, and Blake’s brother Billy helped by painting all of the little odds and ends. Completing the look is a set of 26-inch Raceline Blast 6 billet wheels with 295/30R26 Goldway tires.

Some aspects of the truck, like the suspension, had to be heavily modified, while other parts only needed slight modifications. For example, the original 5.3L V-8 LS engine has more than enough power to get the truck moving, so only a Spectre Performance cold-air intake was added to let it breath a little easier. The exhaust remained somewhat stock, and Allen Fountain modified the rear to dump down before the axle.

Since Blake started with an LTZ model pickup, the interior was already lush with premium dash and leather upholstery. All that was needed was for TJ’s Audio to upgrade the sound system with a Valor DDn-868W navigation head unit. To add some thump to the tunes, they added a 12-inch RD Audio subwoofer mounted to a ProBox placed under the rear seat and powered by 2,000-watt PowerBass amplifier.

After several months at the shop, Blake’s truck was ready to drive again. We’re not surprised that Blake couldn’t help cut up his daily because the urge to drive only the sickest trucks on the planet is inside all of us. Since Blake has had a nice little history of customizing vehicles, he has been petitioning to get into Severed Ties. Our sources told us that he was voted into membership and this feature is the club’s first acknowledgement of his approval. With that being said, we would like to congratulate Blake for making it into Severed Ties, and we hope to see many other kick-ass rides roll from his garage.