I think we all agree the H2 with a Duramax / Allison is how they the H2 was intended to be driven. As many of us H2 owners do, I have always been dreaming of the day I could replace my H2 aging drivetrain with the Duramax / Allision Combo. Time was right, stars aligned and I hired an experienced consultant to guide me through the best kept secrets for a success. 6 months later success! A ton of new knowledge, most notably an “expert consultants” is only as good as the choices they made during their conversions and some “Old Methods” need better solutions. One area was that my guy, as well as some of the other well-known professional builders, claim that you must forego the H2’s sophisticated 4W traction control and switch over to the donor trucks 2W ABS, without traction control. More money and more experts proved this not to be true. The H2 can be built to retain this capability. Hummer H2 Powertrain description. I’ve been an H2 owner for the past 10 years and consider myself quit knowledgeable on the brand. I believe I have created the best most OEM conversion to date. Factory Cold-Air box, factory upper radiator support, Quick body removal design, and a few other improvements currently in final development.

My original plan was to buy an LBZ donor 2500HD with fewer than 200k miles and mate it with my high mileage 2004 SUV. Build plans changed when I discovered my donor 2500 had a new GM replacement engine and turbo combo, costing $17K done under warranty at the dealer and had only 44K miles, rather than the 140+ I was expecting. With this knowledge, I decided to strip the entire frame and do a show quality chassis build to match the LBZ. Freshly powder coated frame, all new bushings, bearings, brakes, hubs, shocks, springs, steering box, etc. replaced with OEM or better where better existed.

I’m seeking opinions on a potential new business venture. I have a lot more money tied up into this build than is necessary for my personal needs. So, the idea occurred to me to sell these types of chassis to existing H2 owners. The choices to date for Conversion Dreamers or new H2 owners are:
1. Down payment, $30-40K conversion cost, your existing worn out chassis, 6 month+ waiting list for a donor truck all without knowing exactly what you are paying for.
2. Buy a previous Professional build, used from owners who know very little about what they have or don’t have. What works or doesn’t work.
3. Buy a Non-Professional build from someone who didn’t know what they were doing. Hacked frame, Modified hood, no-traction control or unfinished because they couldn’t figure out the process to get it all working as it should.

Opinions please:
Is there a market for this? Is it worth a premium?
You send us your H2 with its tired, worn H2 Chassis in exchange for a, 7 days or less turnaround (extra if customer wants performance upgrades). Essentially, a 0 mile, show quality chassis that will last as long as your Diesel Engine / Transmission combo. Drives like it did from the showroom floor. No unknowns. Support after the sale.

 

Just my opinion but I don't think the diesel conversion is as popular as it once was due to the increase in fuel costs. A little work on the 6.0 or 6.2 is great for most.

Your positives are the transmission and although you did not state as such I would assume you are using the upgraded front axles and diff.

I think if you pitched it as upgraded parts, not so much to replace our worn out chassis you might get better responses. I for one have a sub 200K 2005 and other than new front hubs, have had zero issues with anything since day one. That being said, I would like to know more about your plans.

Feel free to email me at: TimLHarber@gmail.com

 

Whenever I need a new power train, I'll be going diesel. I just don't plan on selling my H2, ever.Fuel costs will go up, but biodiesel will be fairly cheap to produce & not difficult either. You just need methanol & most of the methanol can be reclaimed, so the cost isn't horrible. Longevity is also a major reason.

What I am curious about is how you're going to put a decently tuned diesel in & mate it to the 6L80 tranny (this is how it reads at least) without wearing it out in a hurry. From what I've read, the 6L80 can't handle it & that's why the Allison has been the go-to tranny.

I've seen conversions that will do 2WD, an AWD type of setting and 4WD Lo. That would be my choice from all of the makers. Obviously, my needs are 90%+ on road where 2WD on dry for mileage & AWD on wet for safety. 4lo would be in case I needed it in offroading conditions.

I'd like to see 2WD, AWD, 4HI & 4LO like the H2 originally did (although I believe 4 hi/lo are just sophisticated versions of AWD, but correct me if I'm wrong), but I have no clue how that would work. W/o 2WD, I wouldn't care about retaining the TC on the H2, because I'm looking for improved fuel efficiency. 20mpg+ would be awesome, but it seems that really need a 2wd option to achieve it (again, I could be wrong).

I had a discussion with someone on here before, concerning retaining the stock transmission to work with a duramax & it just seems impossible, but I'm not a mechanic, so I don't really know.

If you can do that, I'd be interested, although I'd want references & some protection for the customer, obviously. That's a LOT of cash to drop into a conversion.

 

The Allision 1000 6spd Transmission is SO MUCH of an improvement over the stock H2. I might even venture to say that the Allision transmission addition, improves the H2 drivability more than the diesel engine addition. (If you take out the pure power of the Duramax out of the equation) From a stop, and flooring the pedal, the Duramax/Allison combo accelerates at a constant (back in your seat) momentum and hardly notice the shifts (similar but not quite as smooth as my wife's Audi A4 turbo). You will feel shifting but impossible to feel all 6 gears. You probably feel 3 shifts. My only complaint is how quick it gets to 5th. This is a complete stock tune of both the LBZ and Allision. If I try this on my gas hummer the RPM revs to 4K+ and nowhere close to the power a quickness. I'll have to check but I'm fairly sure it never revs above 2k. I started pulling ahead of my wife's A4 2.0 Turbo after about 50 yards from dead stop. We were bumper to bumper up to that point. I thinks that's absolutely incredible for a 7k lb truck with 37 inch mud tires. In a recent Blue Ridge mountain trim I may have had a single noticeable downshift.

 

I'd love a well done turbo diesel conversion, but the cost is just too high. Not saying the OP's price is out of line, just that parts and labor to do it right is really expensive. As much as I like my H2 and not having payments, if it came down to it I'd rather buy a newer vehicle or another H2 (or two). As time goes by, these are getting older, new interesting vehicles are coming out, and a diesel conversion becomes less and less worth it. There is a pretty good chance the Colorado ZR2 will come out (kinda sorta an updated H3T), and who knows what else GM may come out with in the next few years.

In no way am I saying don't go for it or that people are not going to do it. There are always going to be people like Synthetickiller who are willing to do a conversion to keep and improve their H2. I'm just saying I don't see a long and profitable future.

 

Unfortunately, I think you're right. I don't believe the current group of H2 owners are willing to spend the $$ to convert a pre-2008 H2 to diesel. I've had it on ebay and Auto trader for at least a month and yes I've had offers but not high enough that would reward me for the time and cost/risks involved to convert. I thought the time was right that the H2 would be recognized for it's uniqueness and capability and not it's old reputation for excessiveness. I've always used mine for it intended purpose and it's dirty most of the time.

Admittedly, it is difficult to market what I am attempting to sell. Based on viewers comments during the ad postings, I'm clearly reaching new prospective H2 owners and not the existing owners that the ad is geared to. 98% of the inquiries have asked if I'm willing to sell with the 2004 Body, or are pissed when I tell them the body is not included at the price I am asking. I recently, changed my placement to Parts and Accessories. (we all know that "us H2 owners" do this on a regular basis). We'll see how that goes.

 

I think places like Duraburb are so successful is because they don't limit themselves to a single vehicle. Duraburb does Yukons, Tahoes, & Suburbans as well. I have a feeling if you needed a new diesel in your 2500/3500HD, they'd do the swap as well. That's a lot more income than just doing H2s. Nothing wrong with only doing Hummers, but from the business side of things, it's more lucrative to have a wider client base.

Skeptic is right about diesels becoming more ubiquitous. The new Colorado/Canyon will be getting a 2.8L Duramax (only 4 cyclinders!). I am super curious what the cost of one plus a transmission (it won't require an Allison, but a GM made 6sp (guessing 6L80e perhaps?). Stock it's only 181 HP, but 369 lb-ft torque. Imagine a few mods to get that to over 300 hp and probably 450 tq. That's most likely everyone's wet dream here who owns an H3/H3T. The best I've seen is someone putting in a cumming B4T diesel that gets about 20mpg. I've also seen a 6sp upgrade to the stock engines in the H3s, but I've only seen one video of that, along with a single video of someone dropping in a 400hp/400tq Vortec 6.0L. Those are still gasser & probably not the most idea for those of us who need torque (99% of us!) My point is that there'll be more & more options for diesel conversions. People who tow who don't want a 2500/3500 or something a little more family friendly with internal storage have an interest in these sorts of things.

If you want to know why I'd dump the money into a diesel, well, I'll tell you. There's two main reasons. Let's say 3.

1. I love hummers, end of story!

2. I frankly don't like what the EPA has done for emissions requirements & the subsequent fallout. I am not against emissions, we need a healthy planet & we live here too.

What I am concerned with is the overly complicated engines, in terms of diesel, dpf, def fluid, etc etc. In terms of gassers, longevity & eventually the price of gas will skyrocket again, plus our mpg will most likely always suck with gas. As well, they wear out faster if you provide more power with mods.

Transmission become overly complicated with more gears & computer controls: that means more to break.

As well, vehicle weights are being reduced. Look at the 2016 F-150. It's a death trap if you have the entirely all aluminium frame. You'll most likely suffer severe head trama. No thanks.

A bonus reason is the legislation down the pike that will make it illegal for anyone who isn't a certified tech (this covers almost all brands of cars, no just GM) to work on vehicles. You won't be able to take your vehicle to your favorite mechanic or work on it yourself like many of us do.

TL;DR, we have overly complicated powertrains, in less safe vehicles, that we eventually can't even work on ourselves. Joy.

3. Biodiesel

Biodiesel isn't that hard to produce & has a heck of a lot of positives.
The only down time is the time consuming process.

Although the BTUs are slightly lower than diesel, it seems biodiesel may rob you of 0.5mpg at the end of the day. It's basically the same power output. There's no need for a DPF as regeneration is pointless. DEF would not exist as a part of the fuel system if biodiesel were produced en mass. From what I've read, you could even cut out your catalytic converter because, again, there's no hydrocarbon, CO or nitrogen oxide byproducts to ruin the environment. I think those mods alone would fix the power issues.

Producing it sin't hard if you know what you're doing. Filtration is the easiest part & 70% of the methanol used can be recovered & used again. If you get WVO free, it's probably at least $0.70 to $1.00 cheaper, right now. You can store it for 6 months.

It also lubricates engines & cleans out sludge & gunk better than any additive on the market. No wonder most municipalities use it like State transportation & our military.


That's why I'd rather dump $30K+ into a vehicle that I can do with as I please. Having the option to produce my own fuel & know what I'm putting in my engine, while getting better mpg, & helping the environment is a win-win for me. I also feel the 393hp/415lb-ft 6.2L Vortec is anemic & even with the 6 speed is just dog slow. I know the 6.0L is much worse!

Most people probably don't look at vehicles the way I do, but that's no my concern. You'd have the attention of people like me, but as for everyone, else, I don't know.

Arguably, if all you have are power train issues in your old Hummer (most other things are not break the bank expensive to fix by comparison), is there enough of an argument to justify a Yukon w/ the 5.3L for about $48K+ vs something 2/3 of the price that you enjoy? I don't think so. Unless your H2 is trashed, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. I've had two lemons that were under warranty (major transmission problems in both at 10K miles & 17K miles) that resulted in selling both vehicles & moving back to hummers with a combined mileage of almost 165k miles. Guess which vehicles run better?

 

The big mystery is why GM isn't putting a diesel in a Tahoe/'Burb/Yukon. There have been rumors, requests and interest in this for years but as far as I know they still have not committed to it let alone said they would.A great reason to want a diesel engine. I think the big problem with this is mass production. I know there are people that make biodiesel at home, but until you can pull up to your local gas station and grab the biodiesel pump it's not going to be mainstream popular. This is where we start to disagree a bit. That $48k Yukon would be newer, less miles, more new tech gadgets, and have a warranty. However, I wouldn't drop $48k on an almost new Yukon, I'd drop $20k on the nicest Tahoe I could find for that price and another $5k-$10k for a lift and other mods. Or maybe pick up a Colorado ZR2 if they really do it - 35" tires, e-lockers front and rear, turbo diesel engine.. Very different from my H2, but when I had an H3T my only real complaint was lack of power from the I5.

There is no right/wrong on this topic, it's opinion and what each of us would prefer. What I prefer is to keep my H2 until GM or someone else comes out with another vehicle that catches my interest. The H4 concept and the Colorado ZR2 concept both have me curious. What I find interesting is how similar they are when you consider the idea of the return of a Colorado/Canyon based SUV (Blazer/Jimmy). GM has been hinting at releasing a competitor to the Wrangler, and a shortened Colorado with SUV body sounds like the easiest way to me. I would buy a SUV version of the Colorado ZR2 no matter what they named it as long as it was at least close to the specs of the concept.

 

I think the main audience for SUVs is soccer moms / big families. Having to drop another 10K+ for the power train upgrade, plus more for a better suspension to deal w/ the added weight & power is something a lot of people can't justify. Now you've turned a 48K+ Tahoe closer to $65k, based on the base model alone. I see nothing wrong with that, but I don't think there's enough interest for those that tow. The niche market that wants to tow their boat/RV/What have you breaks down & buys a large 4 door truck with a bed cover to carry everything in the pick up & the family in both rows.

Regulators will not allow biodiesel to be produced w/o excessively heavy taxes. It's a conspiracy, I won't beat around the bush with that. There's too much money in dino to allow farmers & others to compete.

From what I've read on duramax forums, when biodiesel is brought up, a number of people discuss being able to fill up with B5,B20 & in some places B99/B100.

Check this map out: Retail Map - Biodiesel.org

Locally, only Loves provides biodiesel around here & the drive is 100+ miles for me, here on the Gulf coast. They only provide B6 to B20. I'd like to say that's it's ironic that the further north you go, the more biodiesel you get, but it makes some sense. We have far too much infrastructure to produce dino here (refiners, gas plants, offshore, etc). They are destorying our wetlands (another reason to go biodiesel), so I wouldn't mind seeing them go under.



Oh, I totally understand. Most people don't want a used car if they can afford the note on the car. From what I hear (my family hasn't used a vehicle warranty through GM in 15 to 20 years) it's even more difficult to deal with GM now; that's part of where I am coming from. I hate fighting to have a company honor a warranty. Newer with less miles is always good. Tech gadgets can go to hell (I'd argue I'm one of the more tech savy people on this site, so that might seem a little ironic, but...). It's a vehicle! Over complicating it just causes more & more recalls & glitches. I consider that a major downside, but most don't & love shiny things, lol.

The Canyon (I won't call it the Colorado for too many reason, lol) seems like a nice truck. A guy I work with who owns an S10 is interested in the diesel part of it, but that's all. We on the same page w/ computerizing cars. It's just a way to lock out the buyer & make fixes much, much more costly. It's not needed in the least, at least how it's implemented. I could go on & on, but I just wanted to give reasons for my opinion. That's all.

An H4/HX would be awesome. We'll have to see what's going on, but even then, I'm iffy on buying anything new for a while, obviously.

I will say that the OEM King shocks w/ coil overs & adjusters look freaking awesome. If I had to buy a new truck, I'd really consider the Canyon & upgrade the shocks.

 

Funny and Ironically, i feel like a fortune teller because I can answer my own questions based on a few years of conversions under my belt. I'm prepping for my 5th H2/Duramax conversion, and as i often do, I'll search the web to see what's out there with regards to H2 Duramax conversions and who is doing what. And to my surprise, on the very first search and the very first page of results, I find this dated thread.

So, here i can fast forward to the future and close out my post:
"Is there a market for this?"
Yes, but i don't know how big. Even after 4, i don't have an answer. I have the mindset going into each build it will be my last, and I can finally have one of my own. Once finished, i list for sale and drive until sold. Is #5 the last? Won't know until spring.

"Is it worth a premium?"
Absolutely yes, but it is quit a premium. There is no getting around how expensive it is to convert properly. If you have driven a 2500HD then you know the power and it transformation. But, not near enough is said about the Allison 6sp transmission. IMO, the Allison gets the award for best bank for the buck, in the truck award. It alone transforms the worst characteristics of the H2 platform.

"You send us your H2 with its tired, worn H2 Chassis in exchange for a, 7 days or less turnaround (extra if customer wants performance upgrades)........."
I sold # 1 in this manor and it seemed like a very smart concept. Problem was I TOTALLY underestimated the amount of work involved, even though it was a fully completed conversion i was working with. I would estimate prepping the H2 to accept the Duramax/Allision was well over 50% of the process. I'm not sure i would offer that option in the future, at least at a substantial discount as i did. What i will do, if I can hang on to #5 for any length of time, I will build an extra chassis fully converted and offer it as a sale/body swap. That will certainly cut the time needed for someone wanting to use their own H2.

Lastly: "You send US your......" "US" never became more than ME. To increase the price to cover labor would make this difficult to turn a profit. I consider this a hobby for profit and not a lucrative investment. Costs and risks are high, rewards are also, as long as i can continue to innovate the H2.