Shop Tour - Bio Kustumz

Bio Kustumz has been the kind of low-key, badass shop that only a select few know about. They mainly build crazy race suspensions, old custom rods, and hot rods, but of course, every mini-truck they've ever touched has been something to talk about. It all started with Ernie Macias' first Mitsubishi, which was on the cover of our February '03 issue. That truck took a lot of people by surprise and ever since then Bio Kustumz has been a shop to reckon with. The whole point of hanging out with these shops and doing the shop tours is so that you, our readers, can really get to know the people behind the trucks, because after all is said and done, cool trucks come and go; at the end of the day, this lifestyle is more about the PEOPLE and the sick trucks they build!

So here's how Max Fish, the owner of Bio Kustumz, sees himself and his shop:

"Our strong point would probably be suspension and chassis design, but our sheetmetal work is pretty good, too. We will never look at a skill and think, "We're good enough at that; let's move on." We're always looking for better ways to do things, how to make it look nicer, and most importantly, how to do it right. Building so many different types of vehicle is a major learning tool. Designing a long-travel off-road front suspension has many similarities to figuring out how to get a mini-truck to lay out on 20s and still lift high enough to be able to turn. Building mountain bike frames forces us to learn engineering. The abuse that those mountain bikes can endure is obscene, and that knowledge is used on off-road trucks, etc. One thing that is very important to us is the design and engineering phase of every project. Many people can fabricate and many people can engineer, but not very many can do both. Our ability to do both gives us a major advantage. Take for example bags (or air springs for you technical-minded people). By now, most of us have ridden in a bagged vehicle of some sort. How many of you can say that you were truly impressed with the ride? Designing the system to do what the vehicle will be primarily used for will ultimately net the best results. Bag choice and suspension design are the two most important decisions to make. You're all welcome to come down to the shop and visit or get an opinion or show us your project or just check out whatever it is we're working on. We are always eager to show off, just call first."

Max begins every major project by designing the suspension and drawing out the actual pivot points and cycles the suspension all the way through until he has perfected the suspension geometry and design. Max is truly a perfectionist when it comes to the engineering side of things. Above all else, he prides himself on an accurately performing suspension. You could say that every fabricator has one thing they specialize in (and enjoy doing the most), and for Max that would be chassis design. So check out all of the little tidbits we stole from breaking the lock on Max's purple diary, and if suspension perfection is something that's important to you, then definitely check out Bio Kustumz. For more information refer to the source box.

Fun Facts:
Owner: Maximilian Joseph Fish (Max Fish)

Born:
10/21/75

Place:
Banning, CA

Marital Status:
Married With One Kid

First Mini:
'92 Bronco Ii Clipped With Toyota Suspension, Built Full Chassis, 5.0 Mustang Motor, Chopped 2 Inches And Body Dropped To Rocker, Evened Rear Windows Out Level With Front Doors, Done In '99

First 'Bagged Vehicle:
Joe's Accord In '95

First 'Bagged Truck:
'92 Nissan Hardbody In '97

First Body Drop:
'92 Nissan Hardbody In '97

First Stock Floor:
'92 Toyota In 1998

First Chop Top:
'92 Toyota In 1998

First Air-Tank Frame:
'91 Full-Size Chevy In '98

First Suicide Doors:
'96 Blazer In '98

Number Of Vehicles Owned:
25

How Long In Business:
Opened In '97, Began As Mechanic, Dad Was A Mechanic And Max Did His First Oil Change When He Was 8 Yrs Old. Evolved Into A Love Of Customs And Began Fabricating And Welding Fresh Out Of High School At Age Of 18 With Business Partner Joe Mccluskey (Who Parted Ways In 2000)

First Cover Truck:
Lane Hofarth '89 Mazda 2600i In '01

Employees:
Max Has Employed 8 People Over The Years But Has Found That His Perfectionism Keeps Him Performing Most Of The Fabrication. He Has Only One Employee That Has Proven Himself Over The Years, Steve Wilk. Steve Has Been With Max For Almost Four Years And They Continue To Work Together Flawlessly.

Current shop projects:
'Bagged and body dropped 4-door Blazer, full frame build Toyota Tacoma, '66 Chevelle with full 4130 chromoly chassis, supercharged LS-6, independent hand-built rear suspension, Jerry Horton's (guitarist from Papa Roach) '51 Merc chopped, shaved, and 'bagged, layed out on 20s

Max's Personal projects:
'56 Buick, '64 Lincoln, '61 Caddy, '50 Fleetwood, Custom Motorcycles, and custom mountain bikes (Scandal Bikes)

Quick Tech
If you plan on having a built engine and plan on putting a few miles on it, then we can't think of anything being more important than keeping the powerhouse cool. To spend tons of hard-earned cash on your motor just to have it blow up in your face is every power hungry enthusiast's worst nightmare. Since we were at Bio Kustumz for their well deserved shop tour, we figured why not let them give us the skinny on extreme cooling.