Sorry for the confusion.
Prior to Pontiac naming the later monstrosity of a body style “1968 forward “ ,, ,,,, we called the Coupes “Judge” short for Judge , jury , and executioner, well before Pontiac named the later model the Judge . Which we also still called a” Goat” as well as other names .

Mine was a 1967 coupe with factory bored 389 , backed by a TH 400 and Hurst his and her and front discs .
i sold it and bought a 1927 T couple . re built that , sold it and bought a "A" sold that bought a 36 Nash . sold that and bought a 40 ******* . sold that and bought my 53 ******* . i now have an 800 A which i most likely will never sell .
so we can quibble about names all day long .
doesn’t change that IMO if one can do the work themselves , your far better off money wise to rebuild what you have vs sink money into something that is way , way over priced and only worth 1/4 of the asking price .
doing so is also whats going to keep the Hummers on the road and out of the crushers . its also whats going to spur the after market parts suppliers once the availability of the production parts disappear.
Its also whats going to build a data base of swap , upgrade and repair information for those who want to keep their rigs on the road and cut the asinine asking price of a hand full of parts swap shops down to a reasonable price

 

I like the idea of having something new sometimes. Like in a toilet. the idea of a new toilet appeals to me. a car..not so much. I'm cheap. I mean I like buying good quality things but I don't like paying through the nose for them. when I'm getting fleeced up front I balk. The idea of having a duramax with an Alison trans is awesome however I would still be stuck with an 03' h2 with 120,000 miles on it.

 

H2,
I think about it like this. Only the moving parts have mileage..... So you replace the drive train... what else has got mileage on it?

But I agree. 30k for a used (albeit, low mileage usually) engine and trans being put into your vehicle is a bit unreal. I have seen Engine swaps in a vette for alot less money and more horsepower.

 

Yeah, its a lot. I bought my H2 in 2008 for 15000. I had to put some $$$ into it but its all good now. I'm all about upgrades and mods but the $$$$ vs. the benefits are nil.

 

Had a 67 Goat myself...4 speed, loved that car. Would drop the clutch at 5k rpm's and she would not miss a beat, powershift without lifting off the gas and would just launch. Really no other manufacturers could build them as tough as the Americans could. Anyway, 67 Goat's had 400 cubic inch motors, 389 was last seen in the 66 Goat.

 

mine was a 67 and the block had 389 numbers but was bored .
the machine shop that i had rebuild the engine squawked about it to no end .
The heads on mine were also the old style head not the newer heads that came out in 67 .
But anyway .

I would agree that the cost of the diesel swap for the H2 seem rather high . Im not sure I fully understand the , why of it other then there doesn’t seem to have been many done yet .
Understanding that ½ the cost is for the donor vehicle with low miles . But even then your swapping in an engine that’s capable for far more miles then the gas engine . If it was taken care of , even at 100 thousand , your looking at just reaching the break-in on the diesel. Hence the high cost of the donor rigs .

Then you have the electrical issues . Which frankly as I said before , will come down as bore people start to figure out the splice to join the two systems and after market companies start producing wiring kits .
This isn’t new it just takes time for things to evolve . . Now I may be wrong on this but it seems to me that at this point the H2 system is still a common for year based GM system . So im thinking that what its going to take is for someone to actually post on the net , the wiring conversion OR for one of the folks who are doing a reliable swap now , to break their silence and post what they have worked out concerning the wiring .
Past that I cant see this swap being any different then any other engine swap which are done 1000s of times a year in a whole lot of other vehicles.
But even with those , if your paying someone else to do the job , then you pay their asking cost .

 

I found this little kit. It comes with a HARNESS. Do-It-Yourself Diesel Conversion Kit