Wired 4 Sound and Dialed 4 the Dirt

All too often we see good intentions that are followed by bad plans, which result in projects that never see the light of day, or just don't work the way they were intended. The plain truth is that it's not that easy to design, build, and ultimately drive your dream. Seeing the light at the end of a tunnel laden with fog and disarray is a tool more powerful than a Scotch ironworker. Adam Garcia, owner of Wired For Sound, a high-end car audio retail and installation shop located in Murrieta, California, is one of the lucky few truck builders blessed with both the vision and means to see his ideas come to fruition. His '01 Chevy 2500 HD Crew Cab is concrete evidence that Adam does it with function and an eye for style that doesn't cross the line into bling-bling overkill.

This is actually the second buildup of Garcia's ride, a project that would see a complete disassembly and makeover following its debut on the show circuit. The complete transformation from mild street runner to full-tilt show stomper took just three months to complete, and the results are breathtaking. Adam's other company, Wired For Sound Motorsports, is responsible for the suspension mods that boosted the HD's ride height a full 19 inches strong. The front suspension was reconfigured with CST's celebrated 4-inch lift spindles; a drop down cradle; and wider, uniball-equipped control arms. New fiberglass fenders from Glassworks Unlimited were required for containing the 40-inch-round Super Swamper tires and 20-inch KMC wheels once the long-travel components were joined at the hip with a set of King coilover shocks.

Wired For Sound Motorsports also handled the rear suspension upgrades, ditching the leaf springs and lift blocks this time around in favor of a more useable and Glamis-friendly five-link suspension. The link bars were crafted from DOM tubing and fitted with rod ends to locate the trussed GM corporate 14-bolt rearend. Once again, King was tapped on the shoulder to provide a matched set of coilover shocks and remote reservoir dampers to control the motion of the rearend. With the suspension mods in the bag and the truck sitting right, the rest of the truck was blown apart and everything that could be unbolted was polished, painted, powdercoated, or chrome-plated for maximum visual appeal. Don't mistake the good looks for an "all show and no go" attitude, though. This suspension works well for its intended purposes -- stomping across the show circuit and romping on weekend excursions through the desert.

Perhaps the strongest asset of this truck lies in its complex audio and video entertainment system, a credit to Wired For Sound's creative installation professionals. The HD is stuffed to the gills with Kicker equipment, most of which is installed in a very unlikely place: the roof. Four of the system's amplifiers are mounted upside down in the headliner of the truck, a move that required substantial reinforcement of the roof skin, and deserves a golf clap for originality. The last pair of Kicker amps was stuffed beneath the flip-up portion of the back seat, while four 10-inch Kicker subs were given their own custom fiberglass enclosure behind the seat. An Alpine tuner/CD/DVD/monitor head unit controls the in-cab entertainment for the six custom monitors that display the system's output, DVDs, and PlayStation 2 games. Finally, Kicker RS-series component speakers were installed in the factory door locations to reproduce the mids, highs, and midbass beats of Adam's favorite music.

Presentation is half the battle for any show truck and Adam's HD absolutely kills in the looks department, thanks to Smith Designs' paintwork. The graphics make excellent use of the Chevy's lines, the Cadillac Escalade door handles, the tinted '03 taillights, and a billet fuel filler door. We were drawn to this truck the first time we saw it, but fell in love with it after Adam hit his stride with the second buildup.

SPECIFICATIONS
Owner : Adam Garcia, Temecula, California
Vehicle : '01 Chevrolet 2500HD Crew Cab
Engine : 6.0L V-8
Suspension : Front: CST Performance Suspension lift spindles and drop down brackets with King 2.5-inch coilover shocks. Rear: five-link with King 2.5-inch coilover shocks
Wheels and Tires : KMC 20x10-inch wheels; 39.50x13.50R20LT Interco Super Swamper tires
Accessories : Alpine CD/DVD head unit and Kicker amplifiers and speakers, Cadillac Escalade door handles and taillights

The rear suspension is a clean...        read full caption The rear suspension is a clean concept centered around a trussed GM corporate 14-bolt rearend. The stock leaf springs were replaced by a five-link suspension system that pivots on Teflon-coated rod ends. Note the interesting antisway bar that runs through the framerails. Once again, King coilovers and reservoir dampers were chosen for their excellent control to damp the rear suspension.

Adam's HD is lifted 19 inches...        read full caption Adam's HD is lifted 19 inches higher than stock, thanks to the suspension masterminds at CST and Wired For Sound Motorsports. The front suspension benefits from 4-inch-taller CST lift spindles, drop down brackets, and King dual-rate coilover shocks. The shocks and air bumps found new homes after Wired For Sound Motorsports removed the stock shock mounts and torsion bars, and fabricated new upper shock hoops, which are chrome-plated and welded to the smoothed, boxed, and painted framerails. More bling-bling is present, thanks to a grip of paint, polish, and custom-fabbed, polished stainless-steel inner fenders.

Upgrading not only the look...        read full caption Upgrading not only the look of the truck, but the degree of functionality as well, KMC 20x10-inch wheels are paired with Interco Super Swamper 39.50x13.50R20LT tires. The full-frontal assault continues with a scratch-built front light cage with skidplate, Glassworks Unlimited flared fiberglass fenders, and a Trenz billet aluminum grille insert.

Wired For Sound pulled out...        read full caption Wired For Sound pulled out all the stops when it came to constructing the monster audio system for this monster truck. A quartet of Kicker 10-inch subwoofers is stuffed into a custom enclosure and powered by a gang of Kicker 1250.1 amplifiers, cleverly mounted in the headliner of the truck. Space for audio equipment is at a premium, even in a crew cab truck such as this one, so stuffing the amplifiers upstairs makes perfect sense and looks even cooler.

The factory-heated leather...        read full caption The factory-heated leather seats make for excellent hidden amplifier racks, monitor mounting locations, and a place to hide the PlayStation system. Road trips don't get much more entertaining than this, and we'd fight to the death for the coveted back seat feet-on-the-hump viewing position.

An Alpine JVA900 in-dash AM/FM/DVD/monitor...        read full caption An Alpine JVA900 in-dash AM/FM/DVD/monitor head unit resides in the factory head unit mounting location, while SAUU monitors were massaged into every vertical interior surface within the occupant's field of vision. Six separate monitors provide video entertainment from the DVD system or PlayStation 2 game console.