installed black chrome door buckets and dynamat in all doors on my 2008 H2. I will be installing new black billet chrome side vents with shorty antenna next week along with new exhaust manifolds and stainless steel bolts for them (one of my bolts are cracked) and don't want to mess with that again.

 

Was it hard getting to the inside of the door. I have bought new black door handles to get rid of the chrome but haven't wanted to mess with it yet.

my shorty antenna looks 200% better but my reception sucks. I am just out of Houston too. Tough to pick up my sports news channel not that much good is happening right now in Houston sports.

 

I find it easier to remove the door panels on the 08-09 models than the older models. Just make sure you have extra door clips. I bought mine on amazon dorman brand. I put on a shorty for looks. I never use AM radio.

 

Got the Interco 37 x 12.5 x 20's installed along with a Diablosport intune i2 hand programmer to get the speedometer back on track. I have a 3" x 2" lift for it but haven't decided if I'm going to install it or not. The back door locks are not working all the time so I ordered new door actuators.

Thinking about getting a custom "Lew's" tune since I now have the Diablosport.

Lots to do, Neal

 

I got educated on plastic clips and rivits when I did some work on my dodge. That's a great idea to have some extra on hand.

 

Worth it..... I'm still doing some things on my H2 before I get Lewis to do a custom tune for my H2. He did one for my 5.3 GMC and it made a big difference. I was very happy with the tune.

 

Good to hear that you like the custom tune,

Not really looking for more power just the better manners, the throttle is lazy to me.

Neal

 

Heck even the base tunes that come on the InTune will greatly help in that respect. Improved throttle response and much improved shift points (a lot less hunting up/down/up/down, etc for the right gear). Since we have electronics throttles it also does a lot for improving that.

Does take some getting used to though. I cam from my 99 5.3 GMC truck which still have cable controlled throttle and going from a traditional spring return cable throttle to a DWB electronic one took some getting used to. At first it really felt slugging and slow to respond in a way. The Intune and just some time to get used to it did change that. A few other things probably also helped though. I also did a full tune up with new ACDelco plugs, new Taylor plug wires, and also a big difference was pulling the throttle body and really cleaning that up. Then I swapped the air intake tube for an Airaid one and cleaned the MAF. A lot of little things that really add up. I got my H2 with 115k on it about 4 months ago. When I did the plugs - there was blue paint on the tips which means they were the factory installed ones. Prior owners had never once tuned it up.

On the Intune you just need to decide if you want to run premium or regular gas. Lew can make you a tune for both - he used to not charge to adjust the advance tables for the two different grades of fuel so you can switch it back and forth but I think he does now. If you can keep your foot out of it running premium fuel will new a slightly better fuel economy which nearly offsets the additional cost but with the much better performance its not easy to keep you right foot very light.

My most recent upgrade was replacing the entire exhaust system with full long tube headers, high flow cats, and GM Performance Parts (Borla Touring) cat back setup. So now I have full stainless exhaust end to end that breathes and performs far better. This can also improve fuel economy. Next step (already have them) is to replace all the fuel injectors with a professionally cleaned and flow matched set. Then its onto the cooling system. Going to flush the system, change it over to Evans waterless coolant, and upgrade it to a full GM electric fans setup using the relays from an HD truck from a junkyard and then setting the PCM to control the fans. Getting rid of the clutch fan will be nice and no more sounding like a dang schoolbus sometimes. Did it on my truck and that also adds some very nice additional performance.

 

Just as another option I used Black Bear Performance out of San Diego. They do tours to different locations in the country. They physically drove with me for about 30 to 45 minutes and made the changes while I was driving. It was unbelievable.

I did did all the engine, intake and exhaust mods first. I tow a boat so I really wanted to tune it for that. However, driving the other day I had to punch it getting on the freeway and I got a little chirp out of the tires. Man, it's been a long time but it's still in the blood.

 

Just finished painting the H2 on the skid plate. Primer and 2 coats paint.