Truck - Part III (Work in Progress)

Well, it's that time again. 

Now that my interior was practically gutted of all add-on electronics, my exterior stripped of all reasonably-removable chrome accessories (goodbye, Knight Rider lights ) and all cliche dooky-looking decals removed, it's time to build the truck I've always wanted.

I'm doing some side computer business as well, so I will finally be in a position financially and wife-approvally  to mod the rig the way I've always seen it and wanted it.

So far, here's what I have done (not like anybody cares )

- Removed chrome hood panel and replaced with new factory black one
- Removed chrome lower grill insert
- Removed ALL add-on electronics
- Removed ALL pin-striping and decals
- Removed "crap" from storage compartments

Here's what I've added:

- New Horn
- Underbody protection (about time, I know)
- Rebuilt Transfer Case (not on purpose)
- Rear Differential flush and lube change
- Painted my iPass transponder black to match the interior
- Added a nice coat of Armor-All (had to make it look good for the dealer)
- New floor mats
- New replacement factory stereo
- New H3 badges (mirrored) to replace the old factory ones I removed.
- Added Schepel dealer logo and Illiana Hummer Club decal to the tailgate
- Hood bug deflector
- Dark Wood-grain dash kit
- Chrome accented interior pieces
- Re-install and hardwire my GPS
- Re-installed my radar detector, hardwired into the ignition
- Completed KITT lighting and sound effects
 
I'm taking my time to do this right and find the cheapest and best deals for everything I'm going to do, so it won't be finished for another month or two most likely, but once it's done, you best believe I'm going for that Ride of the Month again

I'd like to put a roof rack on, but then the H3 won't fit into parking garages in the city I use often, so that isn't going to happen most likely.

I don't know how many of these things I'll actually follow through with, but you can bet it's going to look a tad different then it does in the pics

My wife wants the MTs first and foremost, and actually has been asking me to get them since we bought the truck.  Doc would be so proud  

Since she doesn't ever come on the forum, I'm thinking about surprising her with these in the next few weeks.  I just have a hard time putting my old tires to waste.  They have 49k miles on them, but still have at least 40% of their tread left.

That's my story.  Please comment at your leasure.  While I honestly shouldn't care what people say or think about my rig, I respect my fellow forum member's opinions and like the feedback.

I'm still a newbie at this off-roading thing

49K and 40% tread left????   WTH?  I've never got passed 55K with any real grip left on truck tires?  I rotate every other oil change, or if the wheather sucks real bad, I might go a little longer in between.  Did you actually do a tread guage on them?  What is the Tire Mfg mileage rating on those things?
 
Keep driving the street slicks, get tires in the spring?
 
The rest of your plan is interesting.  You need one more thing, I'll PM you later in the week.

The past few visits, they have told me they are no need of replacing and in good shape.  Mike has seen them.  Maybe they have 30%, I'm not 100% sure.  It's just an eye-ball estimate, but definitely not any immediate need to replace right now.  I don't like wasting money, but we get REALLY good deals on the MT's through the club.  I'll also PM you that info
 
I'll be anxiously awaiting your suggestions, excluding magnets and Tornado's of course
 
Now, I could use a SuperCharger

sell it and buy the new scion lunchbox...we all know your a scion lover at heart

What little originality they had was destroyed with the new generation.  They look like like smoothed-out sardine boxes.  At least the last shoebox has some space.
 
We'll see what revision 3 of my H3 turns out like

looking forward to the changes. Get the MTs and sell the old ones on Craigslist. There's always a buyer.

The last 30% of the tire tread always seem to go alot faster than the first 30% did. I think you will need tires sooner than you think. You are going from one extreme to the other. It will be interesting to see what your truck looks like when you are finished with it...again. Looking forward to it.

get the tires now, that way nobody will have to move rocks for you anymore . . . . .

Good Point 3hummers.  I didn't think about that.  What is the treadwear like on the MTs on average?  Is it at least in the upper 300s?
 
Hey, I haven't gotten stuck yet....
 
well, except for that large hunk of concrete that somehow ended up in the riverbend that everybody was yelling at me to avoid but mistook that for some kind of congradulatory "You did it!"

pics...pics....pics

That's going to be a while Bob

Good choices mike!

I have to say, Mike's truck looks really good and is starting to transform nicely. His tires have a lot of life left in them! About 2 months ago, I checked in an H3 with 83K on it. It had the stock goodyears and they STILL had a little life left in them. I'm assuming those have a hard tread compound. The only thing I've seen go wrong is they chop/feather really bad if you don't rotate them every 7k.

Thanks! Maybe I'll wait to get the new tires then.  I can use that money for other things.
 
I would like to TRY to at least get the chrome borders off that I have around the door handles, but they don't seem like they will budge.  Can I just use any fishing line? I've never done that before.

We need PICS!!
 
Sam

Sounds like your going to busy for awhile, post pics when you can.

Well, I think I already blew my chances of winning a ROTM.....
 
I ordered my wood trim dash kit last night......
 
and it isn't the real kind.......
 
BUT, it's Japanese Cherry Wood, which is a dark rich red looking color.  It was hard to find a vendor who offered it, but we found it.

where the heck are the pics

It's mostly all stock right now, so there isn't much to show.

This weather has been most uncooperative lately.  This has to be the coldest and most inconsistant winter I can remember.  It's been averaging about 0 to 15 degrees for the last two weeks.  I have made ZERO progress with anything on this vehicle.  It's a little furstrating

I think it may finally be time to invest in a heater for the garage. 
 
It's supposed to be 40 degrees the next 2 days, so I'll definitely be reinstalling the GPS and CB, but it snowed about 4" tonight on top of the 2 or 3 already on the ground, so the flooding is going to be rediculous around here since it's supposed to thunder storm for the next 2 days.

You need to stop sending the snow straight across to Doc and let a little of it come south one state so that we can get some.

Well, I'm a little over half way done with the mods. 
 
After really thinking hard about some of it, I have excluded the E85 Flexfuel system, mostly because cost-wise it wouldn't make much sense, and there is no real hard data yet that shows the emissions levels would be dramatically improved.  So far from my research, this kit only provides on average maybe a 20% decrease in emissions, when doing the math, isn't much at all.
 
No rocker panels either.  I already had the underbody protection installed, so chances are this will not be necessary since I don't do any major off-roading anyway.  I also may get the rear differential plate installed.  I haven't decided yet.
 
The wood-trim is almost done.  I'm waiting on one more piece.  It looks nicer then I thought it would.
 
I also ordered some light chrome accents, so the interior will now be wood-like with chrome accents.  Those haven't come yet.
 
I installed the new KITT lights (obviously) but that wasn't part of the original plan.
 
The bug deflector is installed.  It fits very nicely and took 5 minutes to install.  I'm very happy with it.  It looks very nice on the red H3.
 
The GPS is set up, but not hard-wired as before.  I rarely use it anymore since I know this new area I live very well now.  It is velcro'd to the dash but not noticably.  It looks more like it belongs there.  I have the charger in the car in case it needs a charge, but with the battery-saving options the TomTom has, it probably won't need charging too much.  It wasn't worth the trouble to hardwire it again.
 
I'm also not re-installing the radar detector.  I have come to terms with the fact that now that I have had the H3 for over 2 years, I have become more concious of my speed and potential to seriously hurt someone, and I was never a speeder anyway, but I would however always end up going faster then I realized, hence having it in my car.  I don't need it anymore since I'm paranoid about being at a reasonable speed now.
 
The CB will go in as soon as I figure out where the heck I'm going to install it.  I still haven't figured out a good spot for the main unit yet.  I really like the one my wife found for me, and know I can get smaller ones, but I like this one.  I have a handheld, but want a permanent one, just in case.
 
The Backup cam I'm also hoping to get installed this week.  I think I'm just going to go with the wireless one.  That should be easy enough.
 
My wife and I talked about this also, and decided we'd much rather get the third row seating then new tires, considering our tires have alot of tread left.  So, I'll probably have one of the only H3's in existance with third-row seating.  We aren't sure if we are going to buy 2 or 1.  I'm goin to ask the manufacturer how much space is available between the seats with two. 
 
So, to those who aren't asleep yet reading this, hopefully all of this will be done by this weekend, and I can snap some pictures.

in NJ radar is a necessady...3mph over the limit is enough to get nailed in a radar trap around here...especially if the cop is bored...that's Good luck withteh cb..I have tried everything and couldn't find a mounting spot where your leg doesn't rub against it....I had to to buy the all in one cobra unti that a few guys here have to solve this problem.  Good luck!! Lets see some pics of the wood accents.  damnit!!

I saw that Cobra one.  That's the one I think of when I say a smaller one.  How is it?  HummerMike mounted his inside the armrest, but my unit is too long to do that, I think.  I haven't tried it yet.  It's just a pain to have to pull the arm rest up every time you want to change a channel or just use it.
 
I can't take pictures because I leave for work and get home both in the dark.  I don't see daylight hardly ever during the winter months   Pretty damn sad.

I have a few cb's thaqt i have saved from all my trucks over the years and the small cobra is a good little unit...all the controls are in the mic handet so it;s compact...and I can get them for you...CHEAP
 
here is where I put mine:
 

I have almost the same detector you do.  I can tell it's a Whistler.  I like Whistler because no matter what new bands or frequencies that come out, they always seem to work with everything.
 
I thought i'd add that