'08 Hummer H3 Alpha build

[JPaul]

(Since I duplicated my trailer build on here, I figure I'll do the same with my build log for my Alpha. This first post was originally from 2/11/2018)


So after a whirlwind of activity to make it happen, within 4 days of whishing I had an Alpha, especially since I am going to start towing a trailer with my family loaded in the H3, I ended up with SuperBuick's 2008 Alpha H3. Here it is in Duvall, Washington after stopping for gas on the start of the trip home:

And here it is after over 800 miles in two days back home:

First things will be giving it a good once over, replacing the passenger axle with one of the spares SuperBuick gave me (the inner CV boot decided to spring a leak apparently, but it made it home jsut fine. I didn't even notice it until I was looking everything over again after getting home), and then begin the process of swapping add-ons from my old H3 to the Alpha (such as the roof rack, dash cams, etc).

 

[JPaul]

(2/12/2018)
I was able to swap the axle out tonight. Took me longer than I wanted of course. Not sure why I forgot about all the bits I needed to unbolt in order to be able to swap the axle, but there you go.

Seems the tear was a small one in the valley of one of the bellows. After wiping away most of the grease, it looks like that might have been there for a while, but 80 mph for several hours helped the grease find a new home outside of the boot.

I noticed the driver side has a small leak as well on the outer boot, but that one was barely wetting the boot, so I'll probably just find where the hole is and see if some adhesive sealant will take care of it. I'd rather not go to the trouble of pulling that side apart as well just yet.


Took it for a spin afterwards and everything seemed fine, so im going to take it to work tomorrow and see if I can get it to pass emissions. My only concern is if they are going to be sticklers about there only being one cat on each side instead if two. I'm really hoping that they'll just check to make sure there are cats and that it is passing the emission levels it needs to hit and that there are no codes.

I have to say, the brakes on this thing are awesome! I'm starting to really wonder if there is a problem with my brake booster on my old H3, I've noticed it will lose pressure and holding power when at a stoplight, and after driving the Alpha it definitely doesnt have a lot of braking power. Almost seems like there is a leak in the booster or something that is preventing it from keeping pressure up.

I also love how effortless the Alpha accelerates, even with the 35's. I'm pretty well pleased with it. It's going to be a really fun rig.

 

[JPaul]

(2/13/2018)

Took the Alpha to get the emissions done this morning. Not only was it super quick to get done, but it passed as well!! I'm glad they didn't care about the missing set of second cats, that would have sucked to get them added back on.

 

[JPaul]

(2/14/2018 - Note: After this post the previous owner as well as a couple other people let me know that this is normal and to not worry about it. My previous H3 had the 5 cylinder and it was pretty solid with temperatures, hence my concern on this one.)

So today I noticed that when I was sitting at a light on my drive in to work (max speed of 40 Mph) the temperature would climb up to about 206 degrees, but once I got moving again it would cool back down to about 197 degrees or so. Ambient temperature was only 33F and the transmission only got up to about 127F. When I was driving it home this last weekend from Seattle I never noticed any issues, and I didn't notice any issues yesterday either, though maybe I wasn't paying it enough attention. I'm also not sure if this is normal behavior with the V8's, but considering how cold out it is while it's doing this, I'm inclined to say it's not normal.

I have a feeling the fan clutch might be starting to go out, since it seems to be a simple matter of moving enough air through the radiator to keep it cool at low speeds or standstill. I need to double check for any air bubbles as well, just in case there were some that came out during the drive home. I can't imagine it's anything else really, unless there just isn't enough coolant flow, but that makes no sense at all.

I checked the fan after stopping at the DMV and while I couldn't stop the fan with the engine idling, after I stopped the engine it was easy enough to turn, though it didn't spin freely either.

 

[JPaul]

(2/17/2018)

So today was pretty nice out, so I think to myself that I'll go clean up the interior of the Alpha some more (I spent an hour or so vacuuming on Wednesday already). You know, unbolt the front seats and lay them back so that I can get under them better, wipe down the interior panels, etc.

Well, one thing led to another and....

I was originally planning to wait until spring or summer to pull the carpet and give it a good cleaning, but I got a little overzealous. Ah well, now it's going to get a nice good cleaning as well as give me the opportunity to get some wiring done easily. I'm wondering if I should just wire up a heavy gauge supply line to the rear and put a fuse block in the back to be able to hook accessories to, like my fridge and an inverter and other things like that. Though if I'm doing that much power draw then I may want to run a heavy gauge cable underneath and feed it up through the rear pillar like I did with my backup camera wiring.

 

[JPaul]

(2/17/2018 Note: Previous owner thinks the moisture instead came from when he took this for a dip in a really deep puddle. I'm still going to check on the sunroof drains though to be sure.)

It's just as well, the sunroof drains are clogged again it would appear. We had some rain the other day and the passenger side is soaked, while the driver side is not as soaked. So it will give the carpet a chance to dry out and me a chance to get in there and clean out the drains. It's also a lot easier to vacuum the carpet when it's completely removed from the vehicle.

 

[JPaul]

(2/18/2018)

Well, since I had the carpet out I decided to give it a really good cleaning. Vacuumed it really well, sprayed it down with vinegar and let that sit overnight, then some 409 disinfectant cleaner and let that sit for a few hours while I took a nap, then took it outside and hosed it down to really rinse it out, let it drain for awhile on the porch railing, and then used my Rainbow vacuum to suck as much of the water out that I could. It's now sitting on top of my wife's summer tires to finish draining out as much water as possible along with a carpet dryer fan my bishop lent me. Probably still going to take a few days to fully dry out

I still need to take a look at the sunroof drains, decide what I'm going to do for wiring, and clean up the trim panels I pulled out. I figure after ten years it could use a good cleaning anyway. It's nice having the red H3 still because it allows me to be crazy like this with the amount of work I'm putting into it (at least my wife probably thinks I'm crazy). I wish I could have done this with my red H3 really, but since I needed it for my daily commute I couldn't really tear it all apart. Heck since I have it all apart I should see what other modifications/tweaks I can make while it's like this. I'd rather have it torn apart once and be done, though honestly it really isn't all that much work to take it apart. The hardest part was getting the rear seat backs out, they are deceptively heavy and didn't like coming up off the studs.

 

[JPaul]

(2/23/2018)

Just a couple more damp spots in the foam rubber under the carpet that need to finish drying and then I think it will be ready to be reinstalled. Interesting thing to note is that the carpet itself appears to be solid rubber backed so water can't soak down into the foam rubber from it. Of course that also means water cant evaporate up and out that way either.

Also, except for some edges that get trimmed at the factory, the foam rubber was originally sealed as well to prevent water from soaking in, but time and use start breaking that seal apart in some spots which then allows water to get in if it pools under the carpet. I'm wondering if I can find something to seal it back up again to help prevent it from taking on water again.

Of course the weather has gone south on me (or north I guess, lots of cold and snowstorms lately) so it's going to be kind of miserable getting everything back in.

 

[JPaul]

(2/24/2018)

Finally got everything cleaned and dried today. Thankfully I was also able to get it all put back together this evening right before some more snow came through. I took some pics but they didn't come out as well as I would have liked, so I'll take some tomorrow when there is more light. A few days ago while everything was still out I used a Turtle Wax deodorizer fogger in the Alpha to freshen it up a bit. I'm going to deploy another one on Monday now that the carpet and seats and everything is back in it.




Unfortunately I ended up with an extra 10mm nut after I got everything back together. I have no idea what it came from, but it definitely came out of the Alpha while I was pulling everything out. I had two 10mm nuts total, and one of them I knew was for the center console. I'm struggling to remember what the other one came from, but everything is back together now, so...

I also had a lowbeam out, so I picked up these off Amazon to take care of that:


They are really bright for halogens, and don't do the dumb blue tint. They are the ones Candlepowerforums.com has suggested for the best H13/9008 replacement.

 

[JPaul]

(3/4/2018)

I finally started the process of stripping all of my mods off the red H3 and transferring them to the Alpha. Yesterday I was able to pull the UCP, OEM rock rails, Thor bumper with winch, roof rack, and pretty much all of the electronics and wiring I had on the front as well as the coax that went up to the antennas on the roof rack.

Today I was able to install my UCP and swap out the rock rails that were on the Alpha with the OEM rails. I prefer how the OEM rails protect the pinch weld, even if it loses some clearance over the rails SuperBuick had built and put on the Alpha when he had it.

I also swapped out the crossmember with the one from my red H3. I know at one point the mounting points had started to fail on the crossmember on the Alpha, though SuperBuick had repaired the one that was broken. However, seeing that this is a V8 and that the crossmember that was on my red H3 was beefed up at the mounting points from the factory, I chose to swap it out so that I wouldn't have to worry about having any issues with it. I'll repair the one from the Alpha using the same technique the manufacturer used on the one from the red H3 and put that in.

It's a bit hard to tell with how dirty the one from the red H3 is, but if you look you can see the manufacturer has added a strap over the top of the bolt tubes (or whatever you want to call them) and welded it in place in several spots. This is a really good fix honestly, because it allows you to really tie those tubes to the crossmember body very well so that you shouldn't have any problems with them breaking off. I really don't know why they have those bolt tubes so close to the edge, the differential pushes down on the crossmember during acceleration (when going forward at least) which then has to be held in place by essentially eight thin strips of 1/8" steel, so it's no wonder they always end up breaking. The 5 cylinder engines probably get away with it more, but the amount of torque the V8 can put down probably wrecks these in short order. I don't understand why they didn't just extend down the brackets on the frame another half inch even and do the same on the crossmember. Then we probably wouldn't be having these issues since there would be plenty of steel above the bolt tubes to handle the stress of the differential pushing down under acceleration. It's almost like whoever was designing this got switched around and thought most of the pressure would be pushing up instead of down.

At any rate, while I have plans to modify the OEM rails to add another tube to use as a step, and I want to make some fixes to my UCP's design, I'm going to wait until the fall most likely. I just don't have time right now what with the Moab trip coming up in less than a month, plus a trip to Colorado at the end of June, and possibly the Rubicon trip in September or whenever they decide to do it. It's also too cold right now to get much done, especially since it has decided to finally start snowing on a regular basis here (We were enjoying 50+ degree days most of January and into February. Now that I have the Alpha and need to get work done on it, it's decided it's time for below freezing weather and snow.). Painting anything would be dubious at best with the cold. Plus I'm still basically the only sysadmin at my company right now (we have a new sysadmin now, but he's got a long ways to go before we can really turn him loose) so not having to work more than 40 hours a week is a pipe dream right now. Hopefully within a month or so though I'll be able to get more free time again to start getting everything else done.

For now my goal is to at least get my tires swapped over (35's are great and all, but since I drive this to and from work every day, they are kind of overkill), and hopefully get the Thor bumper installed as well, including the new Gen 2 pods I got from 4speed a few days ago. That will get me ready enough for the Moab trip, though really as it stands right now it is ready enough, though I should get the CB installed as well since we use that on the trails. But getting the Thor bumper on there would be ideal, since it'll give me more clearance and I won't have to worry so much about bashing my nose on anything.

 

[JPaul]

And now we're current.

So I was hoping to be able to just get the outboard bushings from Outfitter Design to replace the stock bushings on the Alpha since it now has the center diff bushing, but they really don't want to sell them to me separate. Since this is an Alpha I would really like to get the diff locked in place, especially before my trip to Moab at the end of the month, so I'll probably bite the bullet and take the time to tear apart the front ends of both H3's and swap the outboard differential support brackets between the two. OD is also in Moab right now until the 19th, so by the time they get back and ship a kit out it'll be getting down to the wire for me on getting the Alpha ready for the trip. I'd rather not tackle a project like that right before the trip.

Another task I need to try to get done is tearing apart the spare axles I have and rebuilding them, two of the spares are pretty stiff in the outer CV and probably just need to be cleaned and re-greased, and the other has a tear in the CV boot that I think I can either fix or just replace the boot. The replacement boot might come from one of the other two axles depending on what kind of shape they are in. I also want to see about making an axle carrier tube using PVC or ABS pipe.

 

[JPaul]

Some quick updates this morning. Finally took some pictures of stuff I picked up a week or so ago for the Alpha.

ARB Twin compressor and related accessories:

I have had a compressor from Harbor Freight for years, and while it was a nice little compressor and is still running fine, I wanted something a bit more stout and faster. I had the money so here we go. I want to eventually mount it permanently in the Alpha, but I need to get the parts together to run some 2/0 cable to the rear to setup power distribution back there. In addition to the compressor, I'll have my fridge and a small inverter back there. I looked at putting the compressor in the engine bay, but there is just not enough room for it, and I don't want it underneath the rig, nor is there room under the seats or anything else like that, so in the back it will go.

Until I can either figure out a drawer system, or some other storage setup, I picked up a couple each of the MTM Ammo Crates to keep my gear in. Right now everything is in bags, which makes it near impossible to have any kind of level surface to put anything on back there. The crates will give me that ability and will make it easier to pull stuff out. The second small green one is still sitting in the garage right now, and these are actually empty, I was just seeing how they really fit in the back. This is pretty much the only configuration I can use, short of stacking them of course.

And of course, my new Amateur Radio license plates came a couple days ago. I never got new plates when I upgraded my call a year or so ago, and figured a new vehicle was an opportune time to do so.

 

[tbisaacs]

I thought these all had the inline 5. Today I learned!


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[JPaul]

I thought these all had the inline 5. Today I learned!


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Nope, the 5.3L V8 became an option starting in 2008. There just aren't near as many of those as there are the 5 cylinder models, which is why I pushed so hard to get this one even though it meant a half day of flying and 14 hours over two days driving it back.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[JKChad]

Did the alpha package get the front/rear locker and lower geared t case as an option? I drove a friend's h3 with 37's, non alpha, quite a bit and can only imagine how much better the alpha package would be. Great job on the build.

Sent from my XT1650 using OB Talk mobile app

 

[JPaul]

Only if you got it with the Adventure package, and the front locker only came in the 2009/2010 model years. Mine is a 2008, but the previous owner put in the cast iron front differential with the electric locker in it so I do have both front and rear electronic lockers. They are manually controlled though rather than through the vehicles computer system, so I can engage them any time I want and in any order. The vehicle's computer would only let you engage the lockers in 4 low I think, and you had to engage the rear locker first before you could engage the front locker. I think a caveat with the electronic lockers however is that when you change direction of travel they briefly unlock before locking again, so I just have to be careful to not start spinning a wheel or something like that when changing directions with them engaged. Otherwise they're really nice. I can't wait to try them out in Moab in a few weeks. My base model H3 with open diffs and the standard ratio transfer case does really nicely offroad in it's own right, I only had a few times where I got a little stuck, and the only time I really needed a pull was when I was at the Little Sahara sand dunes here in Utah and got into some soft sand.

 

[Bouncer]

Well, one thing led to another and....

I miss getting giddy and carried away like this on a new project. On my jeeps I am like this for the first few weeks. But eventually they wear me down. I get concerned if my jeep stops making a sound that it shouldn't be making in the first place, I've grown complacent. But very nice Alfa. I saw one for sale locally for a fair price, they claimed it had the 6.0 in it, but I thought they only had the I5 or the 5.3. On any account I hope she is as good to you as you are to it!

 

[JPaul]

I miss getting giddy and carried away like this on a new project. On my jeeps I am like this for the first few weeks. But eventually they wear me down. I get concerned if my jeep stops making a sound that it shouldn't be making in the first place, I've grown complacent. But very nice Alfa. I saw one for sale locally for a fair price, they claimed it had the 6.0 in it, but I thought they only had the I5 or the 5.3. On any account I hope she is as good to you as you are to it!

Yeah, I had that problem with my red H3, though that was more due to my workload at my job making me too tired to really want to do much else. As for the 6.0, it's entirely likely it really did have one in it, that's a pretty common swap in the Alpha's since the 5.3 and 6.0 are essentially the same size externally, even the 6.2 is as well so that is one people will swap in too. I'm actually trying to decide if I want to just rebuild another 5.3 to put in before the current one needs to be replaced, or jump to the 6.0. Either way, I want to have a fresh motor ready to go before anything major breaks in the current one.

 

[JPaul]

I've made more progress, both in actual work as well as ordering a ton of stuff for the Alpha. We'll see if I can get it all installed before Moab (unlikely, but possible).

Last night I decided to start working on mounting the bumper pods to the Thor Parts winch bumper which was originally on my base H3. It was either work on this or tear apart the front end to get the outboard differential brackets swapped between the two. Priorities...


Here some pics of my test fitting process. I obtained the measurements from CJ (ThorParts) for the bolt hole pattern for the pods, since they simply bolt onto the main winch bumper. The first gen had some light pods that bolted onto the nose of the truck, but they are light gauge steel and I already bent one up whilst demolishing some little car. Unfortunately there wasn't a simple template I could print out and tape down to drill with, so I had to make my own. No worries, since I was able to eventually figure it all out and pushed the pods further forward than designed. Eventually I want to build a brush guard that bolts on and ties the whole thing together.

 

[JPaul]

Here's some pics of the process I went through today with actually installing it. I pulled off the stock bumper, grille, and removed the hidden winch mount the previous owner installed, then I pulled the winch off the Thor bumper so that I could properly measure everything out. Blue tape FTW.

I first measured out the center point on the bumper based off the holes for the winch.

Next was figuring out the initial spacing for the pods. My testing the night before yielded a separation of 29.25" for the first bolt holes for the pods. This distance ensures that the grille that bolts between the two pods will fit right. There is some wiggle room with the grille since it has slotted mounting holes. Not that it matters right now for me, as you'll find out in a bit.

Once I had that in place, I then needed to test fit everything on the Alpha so that I could make sure I was spacing the pods forward enough. I was pretty close with my initial forward spacing to what it needed to be, but I was not happy with the stock location of them, so I moved them forward and generated a new baseline for the rest of the bolt hole measurements.