Front clip swaps are all the rage these days, and guys are taking things to extremes by switching brands and even eras to really make it hard to identify their rides. That's all fine and dandy, if you have the skill and the time to fabricate parts, but what if you want to update the look of your Chevy without going for broke? You could up your street cred immensely by ditching the front end The General put on your truck and opt for the rapper-approved Cadillac Escalade treatment. The parts are readily available from Street Beat Customs and not too difficult to install on a non-HD Chevy truck. If you can work a paint gun, then you're there, and if not, any body shop can do the swap for you. The cost for giving your workhorse truck a movie-star facelift is less than $2,200 if you do the work yourself, so follow along and get busy.
| 2005 Chevrolet Dualie escalade Front End
What's In The Box?The entire front end of an Escalade, that's what. Street Beat will send you everything in front of the windshield, including the headlight mounts, new wiring harnesses for the lights, new sheetmetal, a bumper, and a grille. The parts bolt right onto non-HD trucks and will work on heavy-duty GM trucks if you rework the front bumper brackets and swap out the hood latch.
| 2005 Chevrolet Dualie bumper Support
2. On the top is a modified side bumper support, which has been shortened to match up with the Escalade bumper. The tubing was cut, and a new mounting tab was MIG-welded in place. This is a job that requires careful alignment of the bumper and front fenders, so mocking up the sheetmetal before you paint it is recommended.
The Good*The Escalade headlights, bumper, grille, and fenders look way better thanthe stock Chevy HD pieces.
*Instant baller status, thanks to the Caddy emblem on the new grille.
* No more lame-ass fender flares that don't match the bed sides of the dualie. This ain't no off-road truck, yo!
The Bad* You're going to lose that muscular-looking hood that came stock onyour HD truck.
* Your wallet will be a lot skinnierthan it used to be.
* If your truck is an HD model, this mod will require three days of work and a good custom shop like Metal Asylum Kustoms will charge you $2,800 for the labor and paintwork. If you own a non-HD truck, thensubtract one day and plan on dropping $2,500 to have the job done right.
