BTS CUSTOMS’ 2015 FORD F-250

The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) draws nearly 100,000 people to the glitz and glam-our of Las Vegas each year for one of the largest automotive specialty products trade shows in the world. There, thousands of new products make their debut: some successfully, others barely make a splash. The usual M.O. for attending companies is to increase their booth visibility by offering a show-stopping platform on which to display their skills, products, or potential to buyers, investors, or everyday customers.

When BTS Customs set out to create their show-stopping platform for SEMA 2015, they knew that they had to create something jaw-dropping. Trey Hughes explains, “This whole thing started when I met Dwayne Pope for the first time back in May 2015. We didn’t really have a theme for the build; we just wanted it to be different. Dwayne Pope and I collaborated on this build for several months and designed it down to the valve stem covers. It seemed like with every day that went by a new idea was sprung from our imagination and into reality.”

BTS CUSTOMS

BTS Customs is no different. It started as Brian’s Tint Shop in 1986, a place that specialized in window tint, general accessories, and aftermarket installations. In November 2011, Rusty Montgomery purchased Brian’s Tint Shop, renamed it BTS Customs, and began expanding its line of products and services. In addition to window tint, BTS Customs also installs suspension lift and lowering kits, A/V equipment, and wheels/tires, as well as providing bodywork to those in need in the Houston, Texas, area.

Completed just in time for SEMA, the crew at BTS Customs worked feverishly to build the badass truck shown here on these pages. Hughes said: “It took an extremely large amount of choreography to make all this happen within the time frame we had. When we set out to build this truck, we spared no expense. This truck carries around products and touches from no less than the best in the industry today. Everything was hand picked and designed, from the custom headlights built by Bert, owner of plain AN simple, to the vinyl craziness that John and his crew over at Pixelwerks Media laid down for us in the final hours before the transport company arrived to ship her to Las Vegas.”

Starting with a Tuxedo Black Ford F-250 Super Crew Cab with a stock 6.7-liter engine, modifications quickly began underneath. The frame was left stock, but a long-arm cradle suspension conversion kit was added. From Ultimate Air Ride, the premium air suspension kit (for 2005-2016 Super Duty Fords) can be set at a range of ride heights, anywhere from 6 to 10 inches. The system can be completely lowered to sit on its internal bump stops at 2 inches over stock. It can be raised, or fully “aired up,” to a maximum height of 12.5 inches over stock. It replaces the original leaf springs with Firestone Air Springs. All the brackets, link arms and track bars locate the axles and mount the air springs in place. Air is supplied by Fire-stone’s Ride-Rite air suspension system.

THE UNDERSIDE

Keeping down the bumps on all four corners are a set F-O-A 2.5 shocks with reservoirs. While the steering is dampened by BDS Suspensions’ stabilizer bar, part of the BDS kit includes brackets for the anti-sway bar, a dropped pitman arm for steering angle correction and a track bar relocation bracket to properly center the axle. The braded brake lines supplied by Precision Metal Fabrication enjoy five layers of protection, including layers of Kevlar and Teflon. Of course, they were coated blue to fit the overall color scheme of the truck.

All the way around are Toyo Open Country M/T 40×15.50R24 tires wrapped around a set of American Force Evo SS8 wheels. Made from 6061 aluminum, the Evo SS8 offer around an 8-inch lip. The custom blue applied over the black wheel provides a distinctly custom appearance over the stock wheel’s look.

ENGINE UPGRADES

Under the hood is the stock 6.7-liter, 8- cylinder Power Stroke diesel engine, which was largely left alone for this build. The two exceptions are intake system and the engine management system. To draw in fresh air, BTS Customs employed K&N’s Blackhawk induction air intake system, which is known to provide approximately 14 horsepower over Ford’s 440 hp listing. Engine management is being performed by SCT 5015P Livewire TS+ Performance Programmer, a system designed for a performance enthusiast who wants maximum horsepower, torque, increased throttle response and increased fuel mileage. According to the manufacturer, the Livewire TS+ adds approximately 135 additional horses to the bottom line.

Spent gases find their way through an MBRP Inc. performance exhaust system and out the Flo-Pro five-inch tip.

EXTERIOR MODS

Taking the hit, fore and aft, are Fusion Bumpers made in Payette, Idaho. The front bumper came standard with clevis mounts, fog light mounts, air vents, 0.25-inch mounting brackets, while the rear is 11-gauge steel with four gussets and matching end caps. Though they arrived in raw steel from the factory, they were powdercoated black to match the Ford body. Rounding out the front façade is a custom grille fitted with Rigid Industries’ 30-inch RDS-Series LED light bar. Poking through the bumpers are a set of four—two on the front and two on the rear—Monster swivel tow hooks from Monster Hooks Inc. Powder-coated to match the blue scheme, they’re rated at 10,000 lbs. and made from 6061-T6 aluminum with a stainless steel safety latch.

Keeping the bed secure is a X-Series truck cap from ARE, a relatively new product for the company, featuring a fiberglass shell with a fabric headliner and remote keyless entry. Stepping up into the cab is made easier by Amp Research’s Powerstep running boards that tuck up securely and unseen under the rocker panels. Each aluminum board and stain-less-steel pivot pins can handle up to 600 lbs. of weight.

But what about the RZR hitched to the back? Hughes shares the backstory: “Things really went to the next level when we decided to add a matching Polaris RZR 1000 Crew. Now how can you build a matching truck and RZR combo without having a matching trailer to bring it all together? My great friend Andy, and the guys over at American Force Wheels helped us take care of that by building us a set of wheels for each application that brought everything together.” For shining light? Mirrors, LED headlights, and taillights were sourced from plain AN simple, while the light bars came from Rigid Industries’ E-Series line (10- inch and 4-inch models). When it came time to dress up the stock black paintwork, BTS Customs turned to Pixelwerx in Plymouth, Minn., a design house that offers large-scale, high-resolution graphics and wraps for walls, windows, and entire vehicles.

The wrap for the BTS F-250 is subtle yet keeps to the overall color scheme, providing exactly what they were looking for: brand recognition on a beautiful canvas. Hughes adds: “This truck turned out to be the definition of customization creativity. First and fore-most, we would like to thank Dwayne Pope for making this possible and secondly, our great crew of guys that came together through all of the long hard nights to build this beast into the monster it is today.” UDBG

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