For the last 24 months I've been working on the H3, taking a lot of pictures and documenting the build, I'll get it all listed out on this thread. I have some 600+ pictures so if anyone wants more details or pictures regarding any of the projects I'll be more than happy to get them posted.

When I bought the H3 I had every intention of building something that would be very durable and reliable off-road, something that could handle extreme heat in the desert, very rough wadi beds, steep hill/mountain climbs but at the same time be comfortable to drive, update the looks to those you might expect from a factory 'facelift' and be able to go on extended camping trips while being self contained. No small task considering I'm in Dubai and would be bringing most of all the parts in from overseas.

I spent a few months researching parts available, designing ones that weren't (or didn't meet my needs) and planning out the order in which I'd install them. You may notice as this thread continues some of the pictures may be out of order because at times I would put something on hold and work on another phase if I was waiting on parts. However, I will try to group the phases together so the progress is easy to follow.

All of the design, making parts and actual work was done by myself and my friend who manages a local restoration shop (you may see some pretty nice cars in some pics) unless otherwise stated.

One last picture of the H3 before heading in for work to begin;



First thing to change was the wheels & tires and level it out. I bought a set of 18" wheels finished in chrome and a set of 12.5 35 18 Discoverer tires. I had stainless steel hubcentric rings made as the wheels had a lager hub bore than the H3 has.





Huge difference, looks better and gained a fair amount of lift. The wheels look good but a little out of place on the truck right now but they are all part of what's to come. After leveling out I had the expected shock bottom out so the next thing to do was get the suspension and brakes upgraded.

I went with R1 Concept premium slotted rotors as I've had success with them on other projects. I also went with their offered ceramic pads;







For the suspension I purchased the Trail Duty complete leveling system which came with Bilstein 5100 front and rear shocks and extended front bump stops;



I couldn't find any aftermarket rear bump stops so I replaced the rears with new OEM;



The last thing I added was a steering rack reinforcement kit from Outfitter Design;



As expected, everything installed as it should, no issues at all. Next up, some power performance mods.

 

Should have saved your money on the leveling kit.

 

Who bought a leveling kit? I just bought shocks and extended bump stops. I know how to use a ratchet and twist torsion bars.

 

Your words not mine.

 

He bought the "Trail Duty Bilstein 5100 H3 Leveling System", which includes no re-indexed T Bar keys. Little different than a "kit with a set of keys".
https://www.trailduty.com/product_in...fb1620bebb28da

 

Sorry, most people would have they adjusted the T bars and bought new shocks and extended bumps stops. Didn't realize it was a system.

 

Posted on the wrong thread. Grrr, don't like this phone format at all with old threads following what you were reading.

 

He's Canadian and can't help it.

 

I guess I better not mention the part kit names anymore to keep it simple.

 

After getting it leveled out (by twisting the T bars) the new brakes, suspension, wheels and 35s installed the little 3.7 was pretty winded on the highway - as expected. The truck came with a Volante cold air intake when I bought it so I could turn to other performance parts to compliment it. The previous owner had a K&N filter in the box that looked like it had never been cleaned so that went into the garbage and was replaced by a Donaldson PowerCore filter;



From there I turned to the exhaust system, I was able to source out a header from the local Hummer dealer here in Dubai, I'm not sure what brand it is but it's obviously better flowing than the OEM manifold with integrated cat;





I took the truck in and had the header installed and had a custom mid section done as the OEM pieces had significant crush points from the factory;







From there is goes into the cat-back system that came on the truck, made by hitech out of Australia;



I already know these obnoxiously large and ill placed tips are going to cause problems later on...



From there I installed the new ECU from PCM of NC which included a performance tune, speedo calibration for the 35's, cat delete and trans shift adjustment;



With everything installed it was a dramatic difference, night and day, couldn't even tell the truck was rolling on those big heavy 35s anymore. On the highway it performed better than pre-upgrades and bottom end torque is nice and strong. I took it off-roading several times and was extremely happy with the results, exceeded my expectations but did run into some heating issues in the desert when the temps were high - that will be dealt with later on.

With brakes, suspension, steering, leveled, wheels, tires, intake, filter, header, exhaust and ECU done it's now time to turn to cosmetics (some functional...) and give the truck an updated look.