The tricky part involved recessing them some for more protection. The team had to fill out the old OEM taillight housing. The rear lighting was the most labor intensive. Fortunately, Duane is an electrical genius and figured it out without much of a hitch. The problem was integrating the lower-resistance LEDs into a system designed for incandescent bulbs.
HUMMER H3 LIFTED UPGRADE
The custom team wanted to switch out the lights for the military Humvee models, and Al wanted to take it a step further and perform the upgrade with modern LED versions of military lighting. Bernt made this by hand from scratch-all hand-rolled and hand-hammered into shape-with no electrical or hydraulic forming tools. They then reinforced it from inside and repeated the process on the tailgate side. They basically cut out the entire rear end and refabricated it. The Off-Road Evolution guys were a tad slow with the suspension and axles, so Duane and Bernt started their slant-back part of the project.
Al said no thanks, but he wanted to make it look like a military Humvee. Bernt liked the idea and added that he should do a crazy thing with it: cutting the roofline even lower, like the gangster-style hot rod. One day while having lunch with Bernt, Al mentioned his H3 and plan to show it at SEMA and SHOT. Thus he knew who he wanted to fabricate his exterior modifications. In a previous Chevy El Camino project, Al worked with Duane, Rafe and Bernt from Boyd Coddington’s custom shop while filming an American Hot Rod episode. Then Al learned that Dynatrac was looking to make the first 100-percent electronically compatible axles, and he could get them for free. That sounded great but still looked too expensive, and Al was worried about the electronics being affected by the modifications. He was then told Off-Road wanted to make a kit and asked if he would volunteer his Alpha for the research and development. He saw the company’s solid axle conversions and coilover suspension kits, and asked about a Hummer version. While sourcing an installer in Southern California, he contacted Off-Road Evolution in Fullerton and got hooked. The project started slowly, as Al only planned some modifications to make the vehicle more attractive: just some cosmetic modifications and a Rancho lift on 33s, because the 35-inchers would stretch the front-end reliability. Finally, after a six-month wait, he got what he wanted: an H3 Alpha not covered in chrome, without a sunroof but with the Adventure Package for the rear locker and a 4:1 transfer case. Getting the Alpha was an adventure, as he couldn’t find any in California that weren’t covered in chrome. He eventually waited two years for the H3 Alpha to come out because he knew the standard I5 engine was too weak, and he needed a V8 under the hood. He had no plans to drive it much, and he knew how limited the H3, with its weak independent front suspension (IFS), would be. My friend, Al, got his H3 because he always wanted a Hummer. But a tactical version was never made, and GM eventually cut its Hummer line. It had some features aficionados wanted, such as a 5.3-liter V8, a 4:1 transfer case, a rear locker, 4.10 gears and an upgraded suspension. Perhaps learning from the mistake, GM realized its customers wanted more a more hardcore 4×4 and offered the Alpha version in 2008. But the H3 Tactical Edition was a lost chance for GM to make a truly tactically enhanced Hummer. It was available in red, black and Boulder Gray. It had a body-color grille, a black wraparound brush guard, black tubular assist steps and a black spare-tire cover. I’m told only 1,000 were made, and it was nothing more than an H3 with blacked-out trim. Hummer actually built a “Tactical Edition” of the H3.