Hello all,

I've been an avid H1 fan for some time - this year I decided it was time to make the jump over and finally purchase one. I found a 93 AM general it took about 4 months to convince the owner to sell, but was finally able to work a deal. I've owned the truck for about a month and actively been modding (mostly cosmetic). Next will be tackling the interior/rewiring. If anyone has recommendations for interiors please feel free to chime in!

Here are some pics of the progress!

 

Welcome and congrats"

 

Now THAT is one beautiful vehicle.

Ummm - interior suggestions.... Replace bulbs with LED replacements???

 

My internal mods are usually just pulling out the bad wiring job that was done by a previous owner. Strange stuff!

I have added a USB port on the dog house for changing my phone as well as power for a dash cam that automatically come on when I turn on the vehicle.

 

Andrew that is a great looking truck. Really cool. I am a relatively new owner as well (2000 wagon). First change I made was to swap all the interior bulbs with LEDs. 2nd was to send it to Predator for a new engine/tranny…

 

Sweet looking vehicle! Congrats.

 

Poway14- when you said send to predator for "a new engine and tranny" you must have ment new to you. All the engines and trannys they use for conversions are used from a salvage yard. Predators funny like that, they will refer to all the conversions as new engines but just ask and they will tell you its "low mileage and lightly used". I asked how much it would be for a rebuilt Duramax and they said in addition to the 50,000 they charge for a used engine& trans they would charge an additional $14,000 to do a rebuild. I laughed real hard!!
Let us know how that predator conversion works out for you.

 

Ian, to be clear, I know exactly what is in my truck. I've been over at Predator before, during and after the conversion so much that they must have considered assigning a parking spot (or locking me out ).

You are correct about my use of the term "new". What I meant was that it was a newer setup consisting of some donor parts but some that are brand new. But a bit of your information - at least from the direct experience I have and hours spent there - is a bit different than my direct experience.

First, they offer 2 options on engines.

As you correctly note, the donor option uses engines from salvaged vehicles. But I have watched them do the footwork on those engines. They were extremely clear about what I was getting. In my case, I saw the donor vehicle and the documented mileage on the engine. The engine was tested prior to it being selected for use. I also saw the all components before they went into my truck. Not once did they ever refer to the donor engine as "new". That was my wording. I went that route because the engine I was getting was very low mileage and I spoke to a couple of other Predator customers for a few hours about their experiences including one with a couple of years on his a daily driver.

They also offer rebuilt engines that are complete rebuilds including stronger internal components, bolts, etc. Again, I have watched them produce several of these engines from the ground up. The warranties on these options also vary a bit in terms of duration.

Regarding the transmissions, all I can say is that the option I selected was a Stage 4 Allison. My transfer case and tranny are both better than stock new from any measure.

I can also testify - again from watching the conversion first hand - that there is a TON of testing, fabrication, wiring, etc. that goes into any of their conversions. A huge amount of labor. That starts when they pull the body, power wash the frame and repaint everything. It continues through the entire conversion process. I spent a lot of time checking things out during my conversion and I can directly vouch for the amount of work and the attention to detail. Some of the work those guys do borders on art - exhaust, fabricated parts, etc.

Anyway, while you are correct about my use of the term "new", I doubt anyone looking at my drivetrain would confuse it with a used vehicle. And I can tell you from driving it that it is lightyears better than stock. Ignoring the fact that it keeps up with traffic w/out even pressing the accelerator too hard, it sips fuel. Also, I think the base level (donor) swap is less expensive than you quote above. But mine was done some time ago…

Last comment. If you sense my being a bit defensive about that shop, I'll confess to having a hard time not being a supporter given what I experienced. I feel lucky that I found a local business staffed full of people who love the trucks and who repeatedly went to extra effort to make things right. In several cases, they would point something out (that I would have totally missed) and tell me they were going to rework it because they just did not like how it turned out. That's pretty rare these days from my experience. So yeah the prices for what they do are high but from my perspective this is a case of you getting what you pay for...

 

Hello Ian,

I just read your posts. Looks like you have a bunch of miss information. I apologize if we have in any way given you incorrect information. I wanted to clear some of the miss information up. First, our conversions start at apx. 35k and 38k, not 50k. Thats about 35% higher then what we actually charge. Again sorry that you got miss information. Secondly we dont sell them as new as that would be fraud, unless of course they are new. We explicitly describe them over the phone and on contract exactly as they are. That is either a used low mileage take out engine, New or Re-manufactured. It all depends on what our customers want. I also noticed that you stated in another post we dont do the P400's which we do.

As you had mentioned about visiting the shop, I highly agree. Get out to the shop, inspect it, see the quality of work, see how many trucks are in the shop, do they build engines in house to control quality or send them out, talk to past and current customers etc. That can save a lot of nightmares moving forward. We have done a lot of rework over the years and every time it is always a very unpleasant experience for our customers when they essentially have to take it to us after they already paid for the conversion through another shop.

If we have done anything to upset you I do apologize. I see a lot of posts recently from you about us in a very negative manner. Please feel free to shoot me a call directly anytime at 760-734-1749. I am here just about every day from 6am to 6pm m-f and happy to talk.

Also, please tell your brother Eric I said hi.

Thanks Ian,

Ryan
Predator Inc.

 

First off I'd like to apologize for my negative comments. They don't help. I will not speak another bad word. I didn't know I put incorrect information as I called yall on Tuesday. Can't remember who I spoke with. They were the one that gave me the info.