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.
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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.
Part One: Disassembly
1. Our subject is Street Beat's '05 Chevy 3500 HD dualie. It's a man's truck and looks good in stock form, but a more refined persona is just a few days in the body shop away. First things first, the stock front end was unbolted from the truck. | 
2a. After removing the front sheetmetal, the grille, and the stock bumper, a new impact absorption strip is bolted onto the core support. | 
2b. Note that the battery has been removed and that since the inner fenderwells are out, you'll have a few accessories just hanging about during the swap |
3. Next, the Escalade headlight mounting buckets were bolted into the core support, using the existing hardware. It's best to mock up the parts and align everything on the truck before painting it. It'll save time later on, if you have to tweak a body panel to get everything looking smooth. | | |