Dragon and i tried to make sure even though we built the vehicle for show and sponsor's from light bulb's to Sikken's furnishing paint products with cost of tires and rims including the cost of rig and tax with a full Infinity sound system, 12" touchscreen system in center dash, & two tone leather seating from Katskin. You try to add shop time as we sanded by hand every bump off the exterior plastic so we could paint it. We did not use body filler to smooth out stuff we sanded it down. The truck had base coat and then all the colors of stripes painted no vinyl added, reverse cowl hood scoop and molded it in plus then look at rear and we smoothed the back out and put in Caddy tailights and removed rear vents and it was done with metal no tricks just a steady hand.
We then shaved the side markers and hid them under a ghost paint scheme bluish color where they are hidden in the day. What is such a big deal about shaving is in this case as we did it sparingly and left the character of the massive door buckets that we also have very small blue led's that come on when door unlock which looks way cool and we are planning on having all the underside LED's come on also. Shaving has become a real big deal out west and we chose to use it just a little to remove the two larger parts that stood out most which were the side markers and the rear vents. Led's will be hidden deep inside the A/C vents with just an glow coming out not counting all the Led's in the rest of the cabin. Even our Tsunami caps have blue led's that run up and down the corners. The amps have led's inserted into each end of the center translucent plastic so that the 2 led's one on each end of amp appear to be running towards each other. Dragon knows his stuff on a completely different level than other interior builders because he took the time to go to one of the top schools for auto system design and install because that part is so crucial one mistake and nothing lights up and it takes double the time to search for problem than it does to get it correct for the first time. So he excells there along with audio/video.
The rear sub enclosures were hand made and the new center console was made to go all the way back between the 4 captains and on the inside we hid the computer we built that runs all XM,DVD,CD, NAV etc. with blue led's and a clear H2 on each side so you can see the blue computer we built that also include a vent system with a cooling fan that puls fresh air inside to keep computer from getting hot. Dragon understands and plans these things in the design and I really have to give him credit as I would not have thought of cooling fan. We put the DVD/CDRW in the lid of the front console and CNC'd a mount that drive bolts to from inside and it is outside on front slope machined into it so it lays flush against the lid slope outside and says H2 on it. We added sound proofing that each section is heavy. We covered everything. I bet just from picking the stuff up we added another 200 to 300 lbs. to the rig it really made rig quiet inside, it is worth the gain in weight.
We went with smaller rims to allow bigger rubber and everything tucked up including the completely jet hot'd polish look exhaust headers all the way out the back the tips are up over axle and ends right where the factory did. The only thing we would need to do to go off road would be take off nerf boards add rock sliders. The clearance is the same as it was when i drove it off the lot.
We did take chrome off as many of the long time forum members will notice but, replaced with allot of new work that no one had done outside with the paint and reverse cowl hood. We really tried to get a good balance as at shows before we painted and did the big job people would come by and say it looks good like you could go off road but, still have bling. We just traded paint and exterior mods bling for chrome bling. I think we brought it close to being a sharp looking but, practical rig balanced out with just some chrome.
We begin next month the spring and summer tuning phase to put all the topend we can get to it in a mile trap. I can do that and immediately in the parking lot change supecharger pulley's reflash it with a tamed tune change fuel in rig and drive on 93 octane home or go on the trailer. My goal was to keep the rig so it could do many thing's even be converted to run 1/4 mile track's.
We added a little more bling inside and since we have black inserts in seat's i'm thinking of some black leather on door panel's that match the center seat leather grain. Nothing to dash as i do not like anything more than we did and since we did the center console in piano black we did parts of the dash in same color mixed with the factory wheat color but added a small amount of chrome.
To put a price on the rig would be tough as we did not keep up with man hours. I know everything sponsors gave was about $30,000. Rig with taxs and some more money i put in it that we kept some of it on project put my side of it to about $75,000. That would include some extra labor on body and paint to meet some deadlines that we brought in from outside the shop I paid. We stripped every ounce of factory paint off the rig which was stealth and had 2 paint jobs put on it till we got the second and one on it now that normally if someone drove up in an escalade or something of same size the labor and paint just one time would be a $25,000 paint job because the rig was stripped apart not tapped up and hidden. Some of You know what I mean but, Orangecrush could tell you how much time to R&R pieces not counting the work on each part after you took it off. So total price on the job could run between $115,000 to $130,000 maybe more and that is using pricing of sponsored furnished equipment that was free to the project. Let me tell You to take time and cut metal to cover the slots in sides on the doors and metal work on back took allot of time. We left none of the H2 indentations on side or on hood not anywhere.
Do not be surprised if in a year or so down the road you do not find a smoother line to the truck from factory. They are I think going to leave it
off-road tough but, move the appeal to the eye more towards the smoother lines as we have done it and that most like the new sleak look of lines and door slots gone etc.. Just a hunch but, I have a good reason for that hunch that GM/HUMMER is thinking about that just as they are going to smooth out the lines on the inside of the H2 first in 2008 with more engine choices.
When AM General first made the rigs they did so with their philosophy in mind. Rugged like the H1 give the buyer another choice with lower price and build a bigger customer base. Now GM thinks differently. Look at the Silverados 2007 compared to even my 1999 silverado and my truck as far as looks inside and out looks like it came from stone age even though it is kept sharp looking. GM is trying hard to raise the comfort and please the eye and make it tough. Not a bad plan really.
I have not meant to doing anything to counter or support the $150,000 job but, We figure if a man will bring us a rig and $50,000 we can most likely deliver a very nice rig and unless he picks what will be a allot of hand built stuff with some bolt on chrome or whatever it could. We could take the same money and build an otragiuos off-road H2 and still improve interior comfort more as well as whatever outside as far as lifts and road armour bumpers or order from Drty or Neil whoevers heavy bumpers and winches you wanted.
But on my rig there was an unreal amount of hand labor put on that truck and it could have cost as high as $150,000 but, it is not worth that to anyone else so therefore it is only worth what someone would pay for it. maybe $60,000 to $80,000, I do not know.
Thanks to so many of you who have looked at Our work and i have never had a person say that they did not like it. It may not be what they would drive but, all have appreciated the pushing of the envelope we try to do yet
functionally wise kept the rig to where with an hours time it could be converted to off-road in Moab. Before the truck ever leaves my hands or I just retire it from show and some speed runs i would like to make this dust thirsty puppy is going to be driven to Moab with Dragon and i in it to spend a week or however long the group from the forum stays and hits the trails. The Mall Queen has got to go off with her buddies and get scratched dinged or whatever and really earn her stripes for doing everything i have asked of her to my setup for pleasure to show setup to speed runs and back to her roots off-roading.
Thank You for all the kind and encouraging PM's and emails. You all know who You are. Hopefully maybe even as early as 2008 I will be done with sponsors and showing the Mall Queen and then we hit Moab that year or next if trip is skipped that year. I will show up with stick on paint protector skin, I'm not going out to purposely harm My girl. I will ask advice as to what rims and tires as well of ther things that would be helpful to have the girl ready for fun.
Thanks TAZ
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Originally Posted by HummBob
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