1993 Chevy K1500 4X4 - Lava Flow

Sometimes, less is more. It's the old adage that we've all heard at one time or another in our lives. Ed Miller's truck, a '93 Chevrolet K1500 standard cab, truly proves the saying, though. A resident of Rangely, Colorado, Ed claims that in his neck of the woods, things tend to get a bit extreme in regard to temperature and terrain. Wanting a rig that would be able to handle the weather and the terrain was but one set of criteria that he used when thinking about how to build his truck. Another was to have a vehicle that would be able to conquer his occasional trips to Moab, Utah, land of slickrock. Finally, he had to take into consideration that he would be towing his 22-foot race car trailer throughout the Western states. Many thoughts later, he decided to take a rather conservative approach to the entire buildup. Here is a truck that not only fits his lifestyle, but one that can actually do what it was intended to do.

Since durability and reliability were of the utmost importance to Ed, he chose a rather mild lift kit that consisted of a 2-inch Rancho Suspension lift, a 3-inch custom body lift, and four Black Diamond XT shock absorbers. Keeping in mind that he would be 'crawling over some heavy-duty terrain in Moab, Ed fabricated custom skidplates under the entire truck to protect the vital organs nestled up inside. Grasping the rocks of Moab are a set of 33x14.50x15 Super Swamper Boggers mounted on 15x10 American Racing rims.

The stock gears were upgraded to a 4.56 ratio, and a Lock-Right locking rear differential was installed for better traction and towing abilities, while the frontend contains the factory-equipped unit. For increased performance, the stock 5.7L V-8 was spruced up with a K&N Filtercharger system that allows the engine to breathe more openly. The stock exhaust system was replaced with a CVX stainless steel 2-1/2-inch system. A Thermomax computer chip was incorporated into the ECU to assist the stock transmission with shifting duties while towing, as well as to increase horsepower by roughly 10 percent.

To complete his rock basher, Ed wanted the exterior to be as one-of-a-kind as the rest of the truck. Before applying the red molten lava splash graphics to the black paint, he removed all moldings, emblems, and trim pieces, including the front and rear bumpers. Upon completion of the paint, he reinstalled the trim pieces as well as a newly fabricated front bumper, which he designed and color-matched. The finishing touches came by way of a Grant steering wheel, tinted windows, and a powerful 200-watt Sony/Kenwood sound system.

With more than 110,000 miles on this daily driver, Ed has no doubt that his Bow Tie will make it another 110,000 miles. Ed said if he had anything to with it, all the miles would be Moab miles. Come to think of it, it would be nice to spend all that time out there just turning the old odometer, wouldn't it?