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H1Tad

Member Since: 20 Jul 2024
Location: Maine
Posts: 110

My Hummer H1 build

I've posted some pics of my L663's older brother "Clifford" in a few threads - only because I have an entire google photos archive of nothing but pictures of it and, well, I'm rather proud of it.

IanB implied I should start a thread about it to share more information about it so here we go.

The truck is a 2003 Hummer H1. In 2000, the manufacturer AM General, who builds the US Military HMMWV "Humvee" and now the JLTV2 sold the naming rights of "Hummer" to GM so they could start making H2s and eventually H3's (And now, ugh... Hummer EVs). So up until 2001, all "H1"s are... Make: AM General, Model: Hummer. Starting in 2001, its Make: Hummer, Model: H1. Got it? Good, there will be a test later. Standard features of the H1 (which debuted in 1992 remember) include: Fully independent suspension, "portal" hubs (we call them geared hubs), 37" offroad tires with double beadlocked (inner and outer tire beads are locked) or full runflat 2-piece wheels. Central tire inflation system, raised air intake, inboard brakes, 72 degree approach angle, heated windshield, power mirrors, doors, windows, monsoon stereo (for a 20 year old stereo, it really whips the llama's ass), heated seats. Original drivetrain in my truck is a 6.5L "Detroit" Turbo Diesel making 205hp and 425lbs/ft of torque mated to a 4L80E automatic transmission and an NP242 transfer case. Differentials are 2.56 when combined with the 1.92 geared hub reduction puts the "axle ratio" at right about 4.92. Low range gearing is 2.72. The H1 in stock configuration can climb 18" tall vertical walls with a direct approach, can ford 36" of water (although real world experience indicates more like 48-60") and gets about 13mpg. The real unique feature of the truck is that the whole driveline and fuel tank system is pushed up in the cab in the tunnel. This allows the driver to know that he can clear an obstacle as long as it passes under the front bumper. There is nothing underneath that is lower than the bumper (LCA's obviously but those move with the tires).

This truck is actually my 2nd. In 2021, my original 2000 Hummer was T-boned by a 15 year old in a Volvo and flipped over. Dashcamera footage of that is here: (I think that my friend ChrisFix is going to be releasing his Dashcamera HowTo video later today that includes this footage). That truck I had built in Southern California with a custom LineX exterior and diamond quilt stitched all leather interior. It had a special motor in it after the original motor blew up on me. More about that motor later. It had ARB airlockers front/rear, rack, wrap around d-ring brushguard, full underbody armor (which ended up saving me during the t-bone) and a host of other upgrades including the up-armored humvee transfer case MP2225. Loved that truck ... named "Petunia" but my wife hated it since it took quite a lot of work to get it up to spec mechanically so it was reliable.

When the insurance settlement came through, I was able to pickup up "Clifford" which was a low mileage, 2003 HMCS - designation for Wagon Body Style in "Firehouse Red"... 1 of 10 made in Firehouse Red that year. I quickly began upgrading it to get in line to what I had with the grey truck. I'm good friends with Mark at ModMafia, which is the premier H1 accessory engineering outfit (You can see them on MotorTrend's Texas Metal Loud and Lifted) and my truck is decked out in all of his parts. I fabricated the swing away tire carrier since nobody made one that I was really in love with.

The engine in both my old grey truck and in Clifford is a 6.5L TD as well, except it has the designation "P400". No... its not the engine out of my L663 - its was a motor built by General Engine Production (The engine division of AM General) to put in a limited number of special forces humvees. It made only a marginal amount more horsepower and torque than the 6.5 that was in the truck originally, but it has all forged internals, improved head design which facilitates better cooling, and it has a web girdled bottom plate which keeps the motor from twisting itself apart. The result of this is that the P400 can have power mods thrown at it - and it will take it without blowing up like the previous 6.5's were prone to do. So I did. I put a bigger "UORVA" turbo on mine. I put a 4" *cough*catback*weird* exhaust on it, bigger marine engine injectors, hydraulic rocker arms (bigger cam basically), swapped out the timing chain for a timing gearset, billet crank pulley, massive fuel pump, larger diameter fuel lines.... there's more I'm sure I'm forgetting. End result is that I can pull the frame out from under an H1 "Alpha" that came from the factory with the duramax. Sure I still sound like a bag of hammers coming down the road, but thats part of the charm. And yes - I daily it.

Some videos from my youtube channel:
- Extracting a harvested moose. None of my buddies who had big pickup trucks wanted to try the ravine at the beginning of this video. It was littered with bumpers when we got there.
- My first H1 extracting another moose that was down a "slash trail" which is essentially a bed of branches and sticks. Can't really walk on it but the H1 ate it up. Ended up using the winch to pull the moose out to the dirt road.

IanB had some questions for me:

Quote:
The Humvee/Hummer (not sure correct name), is interesting, if you ever do a sort of offtopic/non defender thread about it with more pics I'd def be interested.
Not the most commonly spotted vehicle over here in the UK. There is a few of the ridiculous stretched versions knocking about near me for hire, but they're the sort of modern looking version, I guess it's the same as the Modern Defender next to the original shape Defender sort of concept.

Yes you're thinking of the H2. Very much the same kind of situation that happened to the old vs. new Defender. They took the original with all of its uncivilized charm and used it as inspiration for a completely new, sort of derivative vehicle. The H2 gets widely mocked for being "basically a tahoe" but it really isn't - and its actually a really decent offroad vehicle on its own merits.

Quote:
Is that a snorkel/raised air intake just in front of the wing mirror? Whats the deal with it being relatively low? Not that I'd ever want to be as deep as my defenders snorkel Laughing

Not really a snorkel but yes its the main engine air intake cap. I've since replaced it with a 3D printed version of the "Alpha" intake cap that ... actually lets enough air to pass to power the engine. The one in the picture in that other thread is the factory intake cap with a Home Depot rubber plumbing coupler extension. This is because when you let snow pile up on the hood - the engine can suck that snow in with the factory intake being directly on top of the hood. Raise it up a couple inches and you don't get the snow freezing up the air filter.

As you can tell, I'm very passionate about my H1. I'm happy to answer any questions about it.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge 2022 Defender 110 SE P400 Tasman Blue Expedition and Cold weather package
2003 Hummer H1 P400 Firehouse Red
2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser

16th Aug 2024 4:23pm

Jerry

Member Since: 13 Nov 2015
Location: Cardiff
Posts: 193

2015 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 Adventure Phoenix Orange

Looks great - thanks for posting - always liked those beasts

16th Aug 2024 6:10pm

custom90

Member Since: 21 Jan 2010
Location: South West, England.
Posts: 20294

Do you know what current the Alternator puts out? Is there multiple Alt upgrades?
Guessing places like Mechman do maybe?

I’d say it would be cool if you could fit an Inverter in so you could have mains 110v 2pin in such a big interior.

I think quite a few people would be interested to see what kind of towing set up hitches etc y’all have.
As we have different towing set ups in GB, as well as heavily limiting licensing on towing weights.

Most common is 50mm tow ball and hitch for light and domestic towing, but there is NATO hitches.
And then beyond 3.5tonne more heavy duty options and commercial plus more.

You don’t tend to see 5th wheel set ups often, but there are some as have been seen on here with PU’s.

Has anyone got any of the ahem new ones and put a proper motor in? Guessing with the serious price tag, it’s a really big money deal. ⭐️⭐️God Bless the USA 🇬🇧🇺🇸 ⭐️⭐️

16th Aug 2024 6:25pm

H1Tad

Member Since: 20 Jul 2024
Location: Maine
Posts: 110

Jerry wrote:
Looks great - thanks for posting - always liked those beasts

Thank you! Other than my fur-babies, its my pride and joy.

Quote:
Do you know what current the Alternator puts out? Is there multiple Alt upgrades?

Factory came with a 140A alternator (CS144). I've got a Powermaster built 200A Alternator. The biggest CS144 alternator I've seen available is... 800A which is nuts unless you're driving something like an electric A/C Compressor or Electric power steering gear.

Quote:
I’d say it would be cool if you could fit an Inverter in so you could have mains 110v 2pin in such a big interior.

I've got a dinky little 400W inverter for when I need 110V. Which is not often. My camping trailer has a standalone battery bank with a 1100W inverter on it. The interior (which I just now realize I didn't picture) isn't very big. At all. The aforementioned driveline tunnel takes up a huge amount of space inside.

Quote:
I think quite a few people would be interested to see what kind of towing set up hitches etc y’all have.
As we have different towing set ups in GB, as well as heavily limiting licensing on towing weights. Rolling Eyes

The setup with my M1102 camping trailer is a standard 20,000lbs (IIRC) pintle hitch/lunette ring setup. I've also fabricated a rotating NATO pintle hitch (pictured) for offroad use only. The H1 is rated to tow 7500lbs which isn't a lot - but the vehicle itself has a curb weight of about 7800lbs with a 10,300lbs GVWR. I've upgraded all of the components on the chassis (half shafts, brakes, drive shafts) to get it up to a 12,000lbs GVWR so I have about 3500lbs of payload in the truck alone.

Quote:
Has anyone got any of the ahem new ones and put a proper motor in? Guessing with the serious price tag, it’s a really big money deal.

Not that I'm aware of but I wouldn't put it past someone to try. I find them very, very ugly. It is quite common for H1 owners to swap out their old detroit 6.5TD's for Duramax engines which can be tuned up to about 1000hp. Personally my 350ish and 750lbs/ft of torque is plenty peppy for me.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge 2022 Defender 110 SE P400 Tasman Blue Expedition and Cold weather package
2003 Hummer H1 P400 Firehouse Red
2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser

16th Aug 2024 6:40pm

custom90

Member Since: 21 Jan 2010
Location: South West, England.
Posts: 20294

LR did quite a good job for us with the Puma Defenders, 150A Alternator from the factory.

There are a lot of vehicles that have a very low output though, so not great for audio installs. ⭐️⭐️God Bless the USA 🇬🇧🇺🇸 ⭐️⭐️

16th Aug 2024 6:49pm

mini Anaconda

Member Since: 23 Aug 2016
Location: Thames Valley
Posts: 782

That's a beast

BORG - Bucks & Oxon 4x4 Response Group

16th Aug 2024 7:09pm

H1Tad

Member Since: 20 Jul 2024
Location: Maine
Posts: 110

custom90 wrote:
LR did quite a good job for us with the Puma Defenders, 150A Alternator from the factory.
There are a lot of vehicles that have a very low output though, so not great for audio installs.

The original alternator was 128A. The 140A was introduced for the Monsoon 8-speaker/subwoofer setup.

Quote:
That's a beast

Thank you! 2022 Defender 110 SE P400 Tasman Blue Expedition and Cold weather package
2003 Hummer H1 P400 Firehouse Red
2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser

16th Aug 2024 7:24pm

Jerry

Member Since: 13 Nov 2015
Location: Cardiff
Posts: 193

Does it have 2 fuel fillers? Are they for different purposes?

16th Aug 2024 9:21pm

Ianb

Member Since: 25 Oct 2023
Location: Devon
Posts: 382

1998 Defender 110 300 Tdi HT Alaska White

Hey H1Tad,
Thanks very much for sharing this! I think there is a definite attraction to the H1 with it's agricultural "ugly" looks (in a complementary way that I love my ugly Defender!). That engine size though *yikes!* wouldn't be picking up my mileage in the UK with that. Well, I wouldn't

. The Yeti - 110 Camper https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic90308.html
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@YetitheDefender
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/yetithedefender/

16th Aug 2024 10:00pm

H1Tad

Member Since: 20 Jul 2024
Location: Maine
Posts: 110

Yes. Two fuel fillers for two fuel tanks. Main tank is 25 US Gallons, and the Aux tank is 17 gallons. There's a switch on the dashboard that I can change between the two one the fly.... even while doing highway speeds.

Of course the fuel selection valve, which is a Ford OEM part, is one of the pain points on the platform which frequently breaks. Knock on wood, mine hasn't yet. 2022 Defender 110 SE P400 Tasman Blue Expedition and Cold weather package
2003 Hummer H1 P400 Firehouse Red
2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser

16th Aug 2024 10:01pm

H1Tad

Member Since: 20 Jul 2024
Location: Maine
Posts: 110

Ianb wrote:
Hey H1Tad,
Thanks very much for sharing this! I think there is a definite attraction to the H1 with it's agricultural "ugly" looks (in a complementary way that I love my ugly Defender!). That engine size though *yikes!* wouldn't be picking up my mileage in the UK with that. Well, I wouldn't .

By switching to the marine injectors, I gained 3 MPG on the highway. Over here, 13MPG is actually not bad for a full size, heavy duty truck.

I don't drive a whole lot of miles. I work from home so this thing takes me to get lunch a couple times a week and then go to the gym. On the weekends I use it to run errands around town or take it to the trails.

Since it has a rather large fuel capacity, I only fill it up about once every 3 weeks or so. It does require a lubricant be added to the fuel since they forced the Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel over here a while back. Sulfur is the lubricant for the injection pump - and without it our IP's can wear themselves out fairly quickly.

Found the P400 longblock thats in my truck. You can see the P400 stamped on the front of the block. We're not quite sure of the exact numbers, but we think they only made about 275 of these P400's - and I, through sheer luck, have ended up with two of them.

Click image to enlarge 2022 Defender 110 SE P400 Tasman Blue Expedition and Cold weather package
2003 Hummer H1 P400 Firehouse Red
2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser

16th Aug 2024 10:08pm

H1Tad

Member Since: 20 Jul 2024
Location: Maine
Posts: 110

Some pics of the cargo area in the back. I just realized I don't have any good pics of the interior where its not all pulled apart while I work on it. So I'll present to you the joy of #doghouselife. Having to remove half of the dashboard in order to get to the back of the engine is so much fun. Especially since they decided to try and pack 15lbs of sh*t in a 5lbs bag back there.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge 2022 Defender 110 SE P400 Tasman Blue Expedition and Cold weather package
2003 Hummer H1 P400 Firehouse Red
2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser

16th Aug 2024 10:25pm

custom90

Member Since: 21 Jan 2010
Location: South West, England.
Posts: 20294

H1Tad wrote:
Yes. Two fuel fillers for two fuel tanks.

Main tank is 25 US Gallons,
and the Aux tank is 17 gallons.

25 US Gal = 94.6 Litre
17 US Gal = 64 Litre

94.6 Litre @ £1.48 P/L (my local U.K. price standard diesel)
64 Litre @ £1.48 P/L (my local U.K. price standard diesel)

94.6 x 1.48 = GBP £140 / USD $181.21
64 x 1.48 = GBP £94.72 / USD $122.60

Both fuel tanks fully filled combined at UK fuel prices;
Would be GBP £234.72 / USD $303.81

Approx $7.23 per US Gal roughly based on U.K. priced fuel, do you know what they are charging at your local gas station? I’d imagine $4 - 6 ?

Now I’ve got a headache.

⭐️⭐️God Bless the USA 🇬🇧🇺🇸 ⭐️⭐️

17th Aug 2024 12:23pm

H1Tad

Member Since: 20 Jul 2024
Location: Maine
Posts: 110

Lol I never let them go empty. As soon as I get the low indicator on the main tank I switch over to the aux and hit up the pump when I can. I typically top off for about $100 per fill-up lately. Didn't used to be that terrible but we are apparently sending a lot of diesel over to Europe while there's a certain geopolitical conflict ongoing.

Diesel used to be cheaper than "petrol" over here but now it's more expensive. When I got my first H1 I could escape the pump for about $60.

As far as local diesel prices... it's right at about $4.29 a gallon right now. Cheaper in other states. I was just gown in Georgia for a family event and it was around a dollar cheaper down thete. 2022 Defender 110 SE P400 Tasman Blue Expedition and Cold weather package
2003 Hummer H1 P400 Firehouse Red
2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser

17th Aug 2024 1:32pm

Ianb

Member Since: 25 Oct 2023
Location: Devon
Posts: 382

Holy smokes! Visually it looks very compact. I wonder if it's deceptive. If I recall correctly they are very big/wide vehicles? So looking at the intrusions into the cab makes it seem quite cosy in there!

You should come over here for a trip and bring it for us to have a good ol' snoop around

So you're running at about £0.87 per litre (UK litre) - (if my maths isn't failing me - also using Custom90s maths too!) Not quite half price compared to us, but probably one or two political bloopers one way or another to get there

The Yeti - 110 Camper https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic90308.html
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@YetitheDefender
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/yetithedefender/

17th Aug 2024 2:35pm

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