So a little about me first of all. I currently own a 2008 H2 Luxury trim. Prior to finding this deuce I had an 04 for about 2 years. I loved it but I really wanted the 6.2 and I'm not really sure why. Anyway one day I see one of the local GM lots displaying a gorgeous white H2. So I stop and check out. Looks brand new to me. The inside is the gorgeous Sedona red and basically I fall in love instantly. We make the trade but as part of my conditions I swap the factory wheels and tires on the 08 for my 37s and Xds off my 04. Anyways I drove the Hummer mostly stock (aside from a few lighting mods) until recently. This year I have had the rare combination of both time and money. So I decided to put some money into this big hog. Anyways here a few things I have done. (Not in any kind of order)

Stereo: I absolutely hate gm's factory "premium sound systems". Anybody who has seen the factory speakers or amp knows what I'm talking about. So I've been ready to rip it out since before I ever even got this Hummer. I did not want to completely remove the bose system as I didn't want to have to replace every single speaker and all the wiring and such. So I set out to only remove Bose from the 4 door speakers and add an extra sub. I used a 5 channel amp and box designed to fit under the 60 split. The 4 door speakers have their own wiring now and are completely free from the Bose system. I ordered everything from Crutchfield and they do include the adapters to retain all your door chimes but the sound from the chimes comes from the front left door channel through the Bose amp. So I saved one of the speakers and hid it under the center console. So all my chimes still function 100% In fact everything functions 100%.

The factory Nav in all of it's awfulness.






Couldnt pull the door panel off completely because getting the led lights inside the lamp were a pain and I didn't want to pull them out. (Prior mod)


I love how GM charges $100s if not $1000s (I have factory sticker sheet I'll look later) for their "Premium" paper speakers. They look to be the exact same ones I had in my 04.




This is what I put in all 4 doors. Inexpensive and superior to the paper speakers. Handles volume much better than the Bose and sounds much more clear. They were around $40 a pair I believe.


The amp and down firing 10" sub box. For being as small as it is the sub hits pretty hard. More than enough for me. I had a huge box with two 15" subs in my 04. Hit crazy hard and took up most of my hatch. I have grown up a little and realized I don't need that much bass. Please ignore my wire mess as I have not decided the best way to hide it yet.


I do lose some storage as now the seat does not fold all the way down.


Here is a few shots of the stereo and showing the retention of the factory backup cam and rse.








I will add some more things to this post possibly later today or tomorrow. I realize I didn't go into great depth about all this but if any one has any questions feel free to ask me. I also did a very similar Bose bypass install in my 04 so I am familiar with both H2 styles.

 

By far the biggest and most expensive mod I have done is the Magnuson TVS1900. I've wanted a supercharged vehicle for a long time but until this year funds have never permitted me to have one. I installed this the first week of February and it has been awesome. I should have taken more pics of the install but I was excited and Texas weather can be pretty crazy in the winter time. Snow one day 80 degrees the next.

Anyways prior to installing I read up on superchargers extensively. Decided Magnuson was the best way to go. I read their install instructions on their website many many times before buying. The online instructions stated that for an 08 my ecm would have to be mailed in and for an 09 I could use the included SCT tuner. I called multiple times to confirm this. Upon receiving the sc package I notice the box they are supposed to provide for the ecm to be mailed wasn't included. So I call them up and they tell me the online instructions are incorrect and that the 08 uses the SCT and the 09 ecm must be mailed.So I go to make sure the tuner is good and the obd cable does not fit. It does not fit in my Caddy, it does not fit in my brothers Ford....sigh. So I call SCT and they tell me they received a bad batch of cables and will get a new one out to mail by next day air. It was Friday when this happened so next day air meant Monday.

Anyways after all that I start on the install the next morning. If you have ever removed the intake for anything you will have a familiar feeling because that's basically what the bulk of the install is. Remove old intake. Put new sc intake on. For the most part the instructions are clear and well put together aside from a few things. They mention multiple times that the fuel disconnect tool is included. It is not. They also didn't include the mounting hardware for the sc coolant reservoir. But the biggest problem with the install was the prewired relay they sent for the sc water pump. It was prewired incorrectly causing it not to work. Took me quite awhile checking all my connections and such to make sure I had done everything right. And in the end it was their fault. Aside from that the install wasn't too bad. You will definitely need more tools than they say you will. And if you can get an assistant please do. I did 99% of the install on my own. And some parts were kind of rough.

Once i received the new tuner cable in the mail I went to install the tune only to be met with an error. Turns out the preinstalled tune from magnuson is not compatible. So I had to call them and have the tuner mail me a custom one. He got it to me around 11pm that night. I was not happy. But at least it worked. I had no leaks or mechanical issues with the sc and tune is fine. I am currently waiting on blackbear to finish my tune.

Stock


Intake removed


SC manifold and stock manifold


Sc manifold on


Painted the heat exchanger for sc



Remove brush guard, grill, trim interior of grill to make room for heat exchanger.



I feel I could do another one of these installs in 6-7 hours now that I know what I'm doing.

 

I recently changed the rotors, pads, and painted my calipers red.



Changed my front signal lights to the smoked black to match my rears



Put in a bigger tranny cooler


Put bilstein 5100s on all 4 corners and the steering stabilizer.


Put bed liner on my skid plate



And bought a washable air filter. The stock ones are so expensive and the only place locally that has them in stock is pep boys. An hour away. The washable will be for itself after two oil changes.


I love this damn thing.

 

Hey, I am in awe !
You've done exactly what I wanted to do to my 09.
Do you mind if i pick your brains a little. I've bought an isimple pac ipod interface to go on my factory headunit (non nav), how easy was it to take off the front trim to get me access to the screws to drop the radio forwards ? I am wondering how big a job is it to access, on the older models, looked like you had to take out part of the center console, but think it's a bit more simple with the 6.2s. Also did you have to reprogram the unit once you disconnected any cables ?

The bilstein 5100s did it give you any lift ? what was the main reason for them ?
I'm trying to ignore the fact you got a supercharger

thx

 

The trim is easy to remove. You will need panel tools to get it free tho. Without them you will scratch and probably break somthing. It's a pretty big piece. Pry it up bit by bit. Don't get hasty. Once it's off there will several connections to disconnect. Then 4 bolts holding the head unit. Two holding climate control. Shouldn't have to reprogram anything. I think removing the trim was easier in an 04. Had two big bolts to unscrew. Less worry about breaking something.

I don't think I got any lift from the bilsteins. If I did it was very little. I went with those because i was still riding around on the original shocks and people seem to like the bilsteins.

And the supercharger.... Get one. You won't be disappointed.

 

I bought myself some panel tools already off amazon. Just not sure where to pry and pull. Re the supercharger how much more power you think you're making now? I mean does your 4th gear feel like the old 3rd gear etc? People can say another 100bhp but in this beast it's hard to put that into a real world experience.

 

Start on the right side prying. Use one tool to lift then go up maybe an inch with another tool and lift again. Then the bottom. Then the left side around the 4x4 ****. I've pulled off the panel a few times and i save the top for last. Haven't broken anything yet.

I can't say how much hp has been added, Magnuson says 120 to the wheels or something like that. But what I can do is compare it to other vehicles my family or I have. Before the supercharger my 3.6 CTS was quite a bit quicker than my hummer. The opposite can be said now. It's quicker than my mother's 6.2 Denali at highway speeds. Not sure about launch. I'm waiting until my blackbear tune is done to see if it is now faster than my brother's 6.7 F250 in the half mile.

 

Thanks a lot for the tips. I just did it. Installed an Isimple Connect ISGM651 in her. Now i got Iphone via usb or bluetooth, and handsfree. very simple to install, hardest bit was getting the trim panel off. Managed to put the uconnect box and USB cables etc routed into the glove box, so if i have any probs, or wish to change over the cable in the future, will be easy to get to.

Next I'm looking to put in a LOC under the console to get me an rca out for subwoofer, don't suppose you did that did you ?

Still ignoring the supercharger (for now) )

 

No I have my sub hooked up to an external amp. Getting to the bose amp under the console was extremely easy in the 03-07 H2s but it looks pretty tough in the 08-09. May have to remove the seat to get the part of the console up that you need to have access to the bose amp.

 

That's a shame, was hoping to take out a side panel or slide the rear out, so i can get a look at the connector. In an ideal world, I'd sooner make up a harness so i am not physically cutting/splicing the existing. I'm a fan of non permanent modifications so i can put back to original for selling as and when...