Chevrolet Tahoe Escalade Conversion

In our June 2002 issue we showed you how easily G's Auto Body in Long Beach, California, turned the front end of a '93 Chevy Tahoe two-door into a counterfeit Cadillac with Mer Tek's Escalade kit, obtained from US Auto Parts in Gardena, California, and a Billet Grille from T-Rex in Corona, California.

This month, G's takes the "Chevylac" to the next level by modifying factory Escalade (four-door) body cladding to fit the two-door Tahoe. G's also added a set of Sport Mirrors from Street Scene, installed APC's Original Euro taillights and smooth cowl cover, and painted the truck Valspar Lexus blue. A few new factory parts were purchased from "Russian" at Ostrom Chevrolet in Montebello, California, and we got the used Escalade body cladding from Luis at Whittier Auto Dismantling in Whittier, California.

To give the truck even more of a luxury look, we also mounted a set of 22-inch KMC V-2 rims and P305/40-ZR22 Nitto high-performance radials. However, the increased "un-sprung" weight made the factory brakes less effective than we'd like. So, we decided to install Stillen's new bigger Statix front disc brakes and convert the rear drum brakes with Stillen's rear disc conversion kit. We'll show you the step-by-step brake installation in the next installment.

For now, follow the photos now as we show you how Jose at G's continued the masquerade, making our Tahoe look even more like an Escalade.

2. While the truck was being blocked, Jose moved onto the building of the side moldings (body cladding), purchased at Whittier Auto Dismantling.	3. As you can see, the Mer Tek fenders are solid and will have to be drilled out for the OEM factory moldings.	4. The fenders were drilled out to access the clips that hold the fender moldings in place.
5. Jose started off by bolting the rear molding in place to the rear quarter panel.	6. The rest of the panels were put in place and were marked where they're going to be shortened.	7. Jose started off by cutting the panel with a die cutter.
8. The rear molding were overlapped and screwed in place to allow them to be shortened.	9. Jose made sure that the panels were secured in place by drilling several screws into the panel.	10. Flipping the panel over you can see how much the panels need to be cut.
11. Jose masked off where the moldings started and finished to show where to cut the molding.	12. Jose followed up by cutting the molding down the line.	13. This is the most important piece of building these moldings. They must overlap to joint them. This is going to be done by thinning out the panels, or should we say "feathering" them down.
14. The same process is done to the inner side of the panel, which is going to be overlapped onto the old piece.	15. The panels are now going to be connected using 3M Plastic Repair, which serves as an adhesive.	16. The plastic filler was spread on in layers.
17. Once the filler was applied to the panel it was smoothed out and spread thin.	18. The sectioned panel was then placed in position.	19. Jose made sure the panels didn't move by screwing them down in the proper locations.
20. Once the panels were dry they were ground down smooth in the same manner as with automotive filler.	21. Jose ran his hand over the surface to estimate how much more plastic filler was going to be needed on the panel.	22. Another thin coat of filler was spread on the panel.
23. The panel was left to dry and would be sanded smooth afterward.	24. Next, Jose moved on to the front of the panel which was shortened.	25. The joints were ground down to allow them to be filled in and smoothed out.
26. The same steps in building up the joints were used throughout the panel.	27. The rear tailgate was also going to receive a panel.	28. These new GM panels and clips were purchased at Ostrom Chevrolet.
29. The panels were test fitted numerous times to make sure that they worked.	30. This panel was ready to be primered and blocked out.	31. These one-piece panels were sprayed in primer and prepped to be painted.
32. The rear panel was now ready to be fitted with the Cadillac trim.	33. Jose and his helper started mounting the panels to the body.	34. While we were at G's we had them swap out the stock taillights with a new pair from APC.
35. These APC Euro Taillights are DOT approved.	36. You need to use the hardware from your stock taillights.	37. Jose bolted on the light hardware.
38. The light was then plugged into the stock harness and bolted in place.	39. The DOT-approved Euro taillight was plugged in and the next stage of the "Chevylac" build-up was complete.