jimmy p's H3 Build

Over the past few weeks I was able to:

Exhaust h pipe is in, exhaust is all painted and installed. I still need to hook up the exhaust cutouts but it sounds great without them so not a high priority.

Resolve the battery light on the dash ....it was just a matter of running battery power to the tbss generator control module so the generator was putting out the full 14.4 volts.

The steering felt like it was catching every 1/2 turn of the wheel after the engine swap. Considering the only steering component I changed was the pump I was chasing down potential issues with the tbss pump being used with the xterra steering box and hydraulic assist. After taking apart the entire steering system it ended up being the original h3 steering u joints, they had seized up over the 2 months in the garage. After tearing apart the dash and steering column I was able to get them removed, freed up and greased. Steering is better than ever now.

I still have to permanently run the power wires for the trans control module and everything under the hood is done.



The only remaining issue is the traction control/stabilitrak being disabled because the 06 h3 brake control module seems to be sending a signal the tbss ecm doesn't like. With some tuning I was able to change it from happening every key cycle to only occasionally now.

30 miles on it so far with no major issues. I am hoping to get it out locally on some trails in the next month. I am also interested to see the 0-60 times relative to what a stock h3 was rated at, seems quick for what it is.




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jimmy p said:

Over the past few weeks I was able to:

Exhaust h pipe is in, exhaust is all painted and installed. I still need to hook up the exhaust cutouts but it sounds great without them so not a high priority.

Resolve the battery light on the dash ....it was just a matter of running battery power to the tbss generator control module so the generator was putting out the full 14.4 volts.

The steering felt like it was catching every 1/2 turn of the wheel after the engine swap. Considering the only steering component I changed was the pump I was chasing down potential issues with the tbss pump being used with the xterra steering box and hydraulic assist. After taking apart the entire steering system it ended up being the original h3 steering u joints, they had seized up over the 2 months in the garage. After tearing apart the dash and steering column I was able to get them removed, freed up and greased. Steering is better than ever now.

I still have to permanently run the power wires for the trans control module and everything under the hood is done.

The only remaining issue is the traction control/stabilitrak being disabled because the 06 h3 brake control module seems to be sending a signal the tbss ecm doesn't like. With some tuning I was able to change it from happening every key cycle to only occasionally now.

30 miles on it so far with no major issues. I am hoping to get it out locally on some trails in the next month. I am also interested to see the 0-60 times relative to what a stock h3 was rated at, seems quick for what it is.




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Very nicely done sir. I just really want to hear how the exhaust note sounds with the H-pipe and quad tips.

So, to get it to sit the way you did (to sum it up), you cut out the support for the tow hitch and seems like you widened the area with a tidy trim job?


Post up a sound clip!

Gpcalero said:

Very nicely done sir. I just really want to hear how the exhaust note sounds with the H-pipe and quad tips.

So, to get it to sit the way you did (to sum it up), you cut out the support for the tow hitch and seems like you widened the area with a tidy trim job?


Post up a sound clip!

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Thanks, I have not been able to get the sound to come across well in a sound clip but I will see what I can do now.

On the hitch I trimmed off the plates to each side where the hitch wiring plug and hitch weight limit sticker used to be, then did some minor trimming to the bumper.

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Ac system is in, needs to be charged. I grabbed an ac compressor, bracket, belt and tensioner from a silverado at the junkyard which works with the h3 alpha ac lines. I am going to try a cheap recharge kit from the auto parts store and see if it all works. I only have $80 invested in everything.

I found an alpha h3 air induction system finally so I will be using hp tuners to update the maf and iat cals in the tbss operating system. This should get cooler air from the fender, I noticed my intake air temps were quite high with the silverado intake box pulling underwood air.

I am also getting high fuel trim corrections on both banks which is likely a vacuum leak or bad maf, just set a code on my last offroad trip. Need to track this down before any major trips.

Lastly I still haven't been able to locate an h3 alpha specific fan shroud. I called probably 20 junkyards with alphas and not one had an alpha fan shroud. So I built my own two piece shroud out of sheet metal. Turned into quite a project trying to get it to clear everything. Need to clean up the welds and get it painted before installing it for good.

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That is a cool shroud!!! It’s awesome to see the ingenuity that happens when parts aren’t as easy to come by.

06 H3 said:

That is a cool shroud!!! It’s awesome to see the ingenuity that happens when parts aren’t as easy to come by.

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Thanks!

Picture of the finished shroud and it installed. The alpha airbox, induction tube and maf sensor are in. The maf/iat curves are flashed in and so far the fuel trims and intake air temps look better. Still trying to decide if I want the full snorkle or a shorter snorkle that doesn't come out of the fender.

Also showing a picture of the area shown in red on the inner fender that I enlarged and made my own larger extension to get from the airbox into the fender

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Just went through the whole build, so cool! I’m enjoying it

Several people have been asking for parts lists and I have been directing them to this thread to keep it all in one spot for others to reference on the LS swap. I feel like I have most of the bugs worked out now so I wanted to get it posted. My approach to using the e67 controller with the TBSS operating system involves minimal tuning changes to the engine/trans calibration and keeps all H3 functions working except stabilitrac and traction control. I am working to find the bit in the ecm operating system to toggle between the H3 and TBSS antilock brake module communication to get hose working as well.

Here is the list, part numbers and prices I paid. Total for the items listed is around $4200. I estimate with fluids, maintenance and replacing broken parts I probably have $5000 in it. I have or should be able to sell the H3 parts I removed or TBSS parts I dont need for about $2000 which nets me about $3000 out of pocket costs for a 400hp LS2/4L70e swap.

Are you planning to add an engine oil cooler? I noticed that you tow alot and the engine oil on the alpha runs pretty hot in stock form

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amrg said:

Are you planning to add an engine oil cooler? I noticed that you tow alot and the engine oil on the alpha runs pretty hot in stock form

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The h3 gets towed but will not likely do any towing . Regardless with the gearing and tires it is a concern.

What temps are you seeing?

I am planning to watch my temps on the next few outings and see. I am looking into transmission, engine oil and power steering coolers right now as I am mounting my pusher fans in front of the radiator.... but need to watch my space with a potential of a behind the bumper winch potentially in the future.

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The 3 doesnt provide actual engine oil temps, just calculated. And i noticed it can get up to 120*c. I looked deep into it and most people who added a temp gauge on other gm vehicles noted that the calculated oil temp is pretty close to the actual.
As for the 3, the oil gets cooked pretty fast even using full synthetic. My oil intervals are 8000 kms for what should be 10.000 kms and the oil is dark still

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I found some good deals on used but already painted black body parts and then painted the remaining parts black so other than the roof it is all one color now. I also painted the chrome mirrors and handles. Actual automotive paint seems to be more resistant to scratching off than rattle can bedliner. I will eventually replace the plastidipped wheel paint with paint as well. Plastidip has held up surprisingly well over the last year but us hard to clean. Likely go with gloss black paint but have been considering dark bronze that seems popular these days as well.

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I had amazon led bulbs in the headlights but they were basically in high mode all the time and not something that was good to be driven in traffic so I retrofitted ebay projectors with HIDs. They are aimed low to avoid blinding others on the road but still do great when in high mode offroad. I also added amber leds that act as running lights during the day and then turn off when the headlights turn on at night. Corner lights were replaced with clear versions and side markers were replaced with tinted black versions.




After 3 months of canceled orders I finally got found new name brand 37s in stock. Went with the same 37x13.5x17 toyo m/ts that it had on it when I bought it as I have been pretty happy with them. I also looked at km3s but couldn't find any in stock. The toyos weighed in a a hefty 95 lbs on my scale! But they are a little taller and wider by spec than most of the others and are e rated so that explains some of the extra weight.

Still battling high engine temps at low speed high load driving so I added a cold air scoop similar to the 09-10 factory scoop at the bumper. The bumper scoop made a big difference on intake air temps at low speeds but not as much as I had hoped for at idle. The factory 09 inner fender with the built in scoop is only $50 new so probably a worthy upgrade if you are running hot.


I also built a hood scoop to pull in some additional cool air. I spent a lot of time trying to make the hood scoop low profile and subtle where it could look oem. I still have some other ideas on the hood and scoop that I might tackle later this year. One being some baffles that reduce water intrusion especially when I am towing it on a trailer.


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Found a great deal on a warn 10s evo winch and mounted it to the schwarttzy hidden winch mount. It was a little bigger than the mount was designed for so I had to modify and trim more than expected. The control box was relocated in front of the airbox under the hood. I also removed the 4 offroad lights I had mounted up front to improve airflow now that the winch was blocking even more. I drilled and dimple died holes in the factory metal bumper and used baffling to direct the air back up to the radiator. The factory foglights were pretty useless so I replaced them with 7" offroad lights with some trimming to get them to fit. Also replaced the bedlined grill with an aftermarket used grill that I found cheap.

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Hey did you manage to snap an exhaust video? Interested to hear how those zl1 mufflers sound

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Cool.... Looks good. I like the custom stuff.

jimmy p said:

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Wow, that came out very unique! I like it.

amrg said:

Hey did you manage to snap an exhaust video? Interested to hear how those zl1 mufflers sound

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Not yet just got the vacuum controller hooked up so I can control the exhaust valves for quiet/loud mode but will try to get a video or sound clip soon.

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Nice ! I’ve thinking about some type of scoop for years.

Still no video?
Still no video?

jimmy p said:

Not yet just got the vacuum controller hooked up so I can control the exhaust valves for quiet/loud mode but will try to get a video or sound clip soon.

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jimmy p said:

Found a great deal on a warn 10s evo winch and mounted it to the schwarttzy hidden winch mount. It was a little bigger than the mount was designed for so I had to modify and trim more than expected. The control box was relocated in front of the airbox under the hood. I also removed the 4 offroad lights I had mounted up front to improve airflow now that the winch was blocking even more. I drilled and dimple died holes in the factory metal bumper and used baffling to direct the air back up to the radiator. The factory foglights were pretty useless so I replaced them with 7" offroad lights with some trimming to get them to fit. Also replaced the bedlined grill with an aftermarket used grill that I found cheap.

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WHAT A BEAST, love it :HOLY::HOLY::HOLY:

amrg said:

Still no video?
Still no video?

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Not yet but I just picked up a new action camera. So far I have not been able to capture the exhaust sound, but will try mounting it on the rear bumper next time I am out.

Man your H3 is just like I dream to have mine over here , but just impossible to get street legal :gaah::gaah::gaah::gaah::gaah::gaah::gaah::gaah::gaah::gaah::gaah:

Parts started to come in for 2022 upgrades. New ecp radiator. Confirmed it would not fit with the factory alpha clutch fan as gpcalero warned me. Working on some core support and radiator mount modifications to make space. Looks like I will need to make a new shroud as well.