No matter how much of an individual you think you are, here in our world of custom trucks, the basic modifications still stay the same. Shaving, painting, and swapping out body parts will be eye-catching elements of every custom truck. The problems with most of these modifications, if you want to do them yourself, are all the specialty tools required, not to mention the knowledge of welding, spreading mud, block-sanding, and painting. If you have this magazine in your hand right now, then we're sure you have some knowledge of how it all works, but just in case, we're going to show you step by step. We here at Sport Truck don't own a complete body shop, so we hooked up with Drew Brothers Customs (DBC) in Arizona, self-proclaimed merchants of cool. We met Rob and Rich Drew when we shot their Crew Cad'. We asked if they would show us some of the cool things they were going to do to an '03 Silverado, and after bribing them with dinner at the local waffle house, they were in.
The Brothers Drew told us that the most frequent modifications they do to customers' rigs are smoothing the rear of the truck (shaving the handle and roll pan), painting door handles and mirrors, and doing some sort of front-end clean up. This story will cover all that: shaving your gate handle and installing a steel roll pan; smoothing out the front end with an SS conversion; and paint-matching the door handles and mirrors. Some of these parts are aftermarket, such as the roll pan and mirrors, but the handles and front-end stuff are all GM. We stood behind Scott Deheart, one of the many talented guys at Drew Brothers, clicking photos and slowing him down all day so we could bring you all this cool coverage. Scott, when you read this, we have just one thing to say: Get back to work, you slacker.
Front
The nose of the truck is the first thing most people see, so customizing it is kind of a no-brainer. DBC decided to use a few factory SS truck parts to change the truck's attitude. The bumper cover and lower ducts were ordered from GM and sent straight into the booth for prep and paint.
 1. Here is our guinea pig:...  1. Here is our guinea pig: the new Silverado. Other than the wheels, this truck is totally stock and ready for manipulation. |  2a. The front the grille shell...  2a. The front the grille shell is popped off to give more room to work. The whole thing is held in with clips, so it's pretty easy to remove. | 
2b. |
 3. The front bumper assembly...  3. The front bumper assembly is unbolted and taken to the bench, where the lower valance is removed. The clips require the ends squeezed with a pair of pliers to release them from the valance. Care was taken not to damage these clips because they will be used to hold on the new piece. |  4. Here are the ducts to fill...  4. Here are the ducts to fill the lower valance; they are a factory piece and just screw in. |  5. Once the bumper was reinstalled...  5. Once the bumper was reinstalled (minus the lower valance) but not tightened, the cover was slid over top. |
 6. The top portion of the...  6. The top portion of the cover is held in place with two-sided tape. |  7. The bottom is held in with...  7. The bottom is held in with the clips that came out of the factory valance. |  8. The grille shell just snaps...  8. The grille shell just snaps back in. |
 9. Now the bumper is adjusted...  9. Now the bumper is adjusted and tightened in place. |  10. The last step is to drill...  10. The last step is to drill two holes in the end of the bumper to secure the cover. | |
Side
Besides altering the handles or the mirrors, there isn't much you can do to a door that doesn't require massive amounts of custom work. This truck will be a daily driver, so DBC thought it best to keep it kind of simple and just install a set of mirrors and paint-matched Escalade handles. The handles have a twist: They are the rear handles, so there is no keyhole in them. This will add one small custom touch that most people will overlook - that is, until they try the key.
 11. Here are the door handles...  11. Here are the door handles DBC will be installing; they're an Escalade's rear door handles. The company uses the Escalade handles because they don't have a factory keyhole or the texture found on the truck handles; plus they feature a chrome pull. |  12a. The Escalade handles...  12a. The Escalade handles have a different rod attachment assembly on them (because they're for a rear door), so they have to be swapped out with the ones on the factory handles. The pins are crushed on one end so they can't slide out, so this area is ground down. Once that's done, the rod assemblies are changed out. The factory truck handles feature a reusable pin, so you only have to worry about the Caddy ones. | 
12b. |
12c. | 
12d. |  13. Once painted, the rods...  13. Once painted, the rods are hooked back up and the handles installed. |
 14. In this photo you can...  14. In this photo you can see that the stud doesn't go into the hole like it should, but there is enough meat on the door for the nut to grab, so it won't pose a problem. |  15. Here is the finished handle....  15. Here is the finished handle. The lack of a keyhole in a two-door truck will bring on some questions, and the chrome pulls will wear better than anything that has been painted. |  16. AIM's mirrors feature...  16. AIM's mirrors feature smooth styling, but still retain a large mirror head for visibility. |
 17. Since the door panels...  17. Since the door panels are off, the mirrors are a snap to remove. |  18. They go back on just as...  18. They go back on just as easy. If you're having a problem holding the mirror and starting the bolts at the same time, try standing on the rocker panel. |  19. There will be no mistaking...  19. There will be no mistaking these for stock mirrors, even though they are still rather hefty in size. |