Stock, Stock Looking or Modified

[Daves86]

Just spent an hour or so looking at posts. Love the site and I could easily spend hours more reading what folks are doing to their M/Vs. But I am wondering what the thoughts are regarding Stock, Stock Looking or full up Modified? So where do folks sit on the issue and there reasons why?

Asking because my first thoughts on my 998 were leave it alone. Two months on I am moving toward modified, as long as it can be undone. But an '86 with a 3 speed ain't getting anywhere quick. So do I add an overdrive, swap to a 4 speed, do a Duramax conversion or just stop being in a hurry in the first place and enjoy the truck?

 

[FKAM]

Just spent an hour or so looking at posts. Love the site and I could easily spend hours more reading what folks are doing to their M/Vs. But I am wondering what the thoughts are regarding Stock, Stock Looking or full up Modified? So where do folks sit on the issue and there reasons why?

Asking because my first thoughts on my 998 were leave it alone. Two months on I am moving toward modified, as long as it can be undone. But an '86 with a 3 speed ain't getting anywhere quick. So do I add an overdrive, swap to a 4 speed, do a Duramax conversion or just stop being in a hurry in the first place and enjoy the truck?

My 2 cents, decide what you want to do with the truck and do it. It's your truck. Everyone is doing things differently. But I think you will also find you will change your mind several times along the way. Leads sometimes to expensive parts not being used/swapped out, but changing things as you decided what you want to do, is half the fun. Also, alcohol in moderation while shopping on fleaBay is a good rule to have or you may find you paid way to much for something you can't use and have to hide from the wife.

 

[DREDnot]

To me, the whole Humvee thing is ridiculous. It only makes sense stock military.



My buddy, on the other hand, is Mr. Tactical Blacktical…

 

[nattieleather]

I think the easiest modification to get a little more land speed would be to swap to the 6.5L turbo diesel motor and either a built up 700r4 or a 4L80E transmission. This should give you good road speed without a major expense and difficulty or swap. From what I understand and what I've seen is to do a Duramax swap means having to raise the body for it to fit and also lots of modifications for it to work. Were as the 6.5 turbo was what was put into the vehicle at some point and take out motors are available.

It's your truck...modify it if you want or leave it stock. From a collectors point of view I think leaving you truck stock will over time in the future cause it to be more valuable than a modified truck, but that's just MHO from being in this hobby for over 30 years.

Good luck and post up some picks along the way which ever way you go.

 

[Coug]

If it's a 998 you can install the 6.5 or 6.5 turbo no problems. The 998A2s have the 6.5 and 4 speed, and as I understand even some of the earlier versions have them in it when they had engine/transmission issues.
Over the weekend we had 3 trucks side by side with the hoods up. 2 998s and one 1123. one of the 998s had the 6.5 turbo and 4 speed, other had 6.2 and 3 speed. 1123 had the 6.5. Not really any major difference between them, other than the 1123 sat a little higher due to being the heavy variant and so heavier springs (and one of the 998s was set up as a gun truck, very nicely done)

My personal opinion is modifying, as long as you're using military parts and not chinese crap is 100% acceptable. There is no real rules as to how a HMMWV has to be set up to be stock, lots of variations out there due to different mission requirements and locations. I just don't want to see you paint it in "Hello Kitty" colors and characters and expect the value to double.

 

[Daves86]

Thanks to everyone for the advice! I get it that it's mine but my other hobby is Harleys and I have P!$$&d of a purist or two in my day and wanted to get a sense how the MV community is. For now I think I'm just gonna quit being in a hurry and enjoy the truck.

Here's some pics of the mods I have done
A console cup holder and new side marker lights

 

[Daves86]

Don't know what happened with the last post. I didn't mean to post the 2 thumbnails, but the first pic is my parking brake and the second is the console again. I'll figure out how to post correctly eventually.

 

[Coug]

I don't think you'll find anywhere near the anal retentiveness in this hobby as much as you do in the Harley world. With the limited availability of some parts, expense of others, and that these things need a lot of maintenance, it's enough for most of us that you own one and are keeping it alive. Besides, you should have seen what the Army decided to do with the inside of my M934A2 when I was in, server racks and monitors aren't really what I like to have in my truck, but that's just how it goes sometimes.


You can find people all over willing to fix your harley for you, all it takes is money.
People who are competent to work on these things in the civilian world are a bit harder to find.

 

[riderdan]

Just to add my $0.02, decide what you're going to use the truck for even before you decide whether it's going to be "stock" or modified. I live in a tiny Midwest town and drive my truck mostly for fun around town and occasionally out to friends land for shooting/hunting. It's been on the highway exactly twice since I bought it, because if I'm going to drive an hour into the city, I want to be able to hear at the end of the trip. As a former soldier, I also wanted my truck for a bit of nostalgia, so it's set up like trucks I drove in Europe and the Gulf.

But if you plan to regularly drive the truck to places that are an hour or more away, then definitely at least upgrading the transmission would be sensible. And if you don't care about having it look like they did back-in-the-day, there are plenty of other worthwhile mods. As Coug said, the MV community seems pretty laid back about changes. Another interest of mine is classic cars, and you really see some flame wars about what modifications are "acceptable"--but I've never seen that here.

 

[McSpeed]

That's kind of where I am. I've made a dozen SMALL mods like 12 volt output to trailer lights, drop hitch, converted bed to doors and set up rear seats (pickup model)...cup holders, bluetooth stereo, and a ton of maintenance items. I LOVE the truck. Puts a big smile on my face. BUT...the three speed trans just ruins it for going anywhere more than a few miles from my house. I'd love to drive it to work, but that's a 20 mile long 65 mph road each way - 27 total miles each way...and I don't want to get run over out there or blow the truck up doing it. Right now it needs new tires - not because they are bald...but they are 2008 models which are therefore aged and unsafe. It also needs an overdrive. But, that's $5,000 doing it myself and buying good tires.

I'm at a point that probably in the next few minutes I'm going to post it for sale at a bulletin board at work from maybe $9,000 and see what happens. Because I'm either going to have to be content to leave it alone...still MOSTLY stock...or just GO for it and mod it out like crazy to make it where I can expand its use to my comfort level.

 

[nattieleather]

Don't worry someone somewhere will have their short in a knot over someones modifications. I put composite brake lights on a M151a1 that I had and someone got "offended" that I had done that, but my ride was safer with that modification. But, in general most people in the hobby are live and let live so make the mods you want and enjoy the ride. BTW nice interior mods on the your truck!

 

[Wire Fox]

Again, mod away. Your big friction point you'll run into here is if you have something exceedingly rare and you decide to just chop it up and treat it as a beater vehicle. As well, if you start modifying the drive line with band-aid fixes and start complaining that your truck isn't working right, you'll find very few people that will have any interest in trying to figure out what you've done in order to help you figure out what you need to do.​ Most likely, you'll get a "start by going back to stock, then tell us what happens" type of answer.

 

[G3isMe]

I like your modifications/add ons. Can you embellish more on your console and cup holders? Did you fabricate them yourself, store bought and if so where?
Thanks,
G3

 

[Daves86]

Hey G3,

Always like talking about the rig. Cup holder was my interpretation of one I saw online. I could not find a place to buy it so Tractor Supply sells 20 gauge flat and 1/4 in flat bar steel and Eddie Marine sells the cup holder inserts. Cut weld repeat. Remember to leave the bottom open where the rubber hold downs for the dog house are, and buy the correct size hole cutter cause it takes time to file 1/8 inch of steel. The cup holder ties into radio tray mounts on the floor (I had to buy 2 on ebay) and that is how it pivots to remove the dog house with out having to remove the cup holder.

The console is my own version of what I saw from Hummer parts Guy (I think) that did not have speakers. I welded feet onto square stock to go between the A and B pillars. Then rivnuts to bolt aluminum diamond plate as the deck. I put a 24v to 12v converter (with 24 v cutout switch) backup camera monitor and switch, backup light switch on red LED lighted switch (so I remember to turn them off). There are 2 power points (one with 2 usb plugs), a fan switch and red LED lights mounted to the rails that are the interior lights. 24v wires come up the passenger B pillar and the back up camera and light connections go down the drivers side. The intent here was hiding the cables, and if I return it to stock its only 7 holes (2 in the A pillar, 4 in the B pillar and one behind the driver seat that have to be filled in).

Hope that helps.
V/r
Dave

 

[G3isMe]

Hey G3,

"Always like talking about the rig. Cup holder was my interpretation of one I saw online... The console is my own version of what I saw from Hummer parts Guy (I think) that did not have speakers..."
Hope that helps.
V/r
Dave

It looks great and thanks again for sharing. If only I was adept at welding.......

 

[obijohn]

It's your vehicle... do with it what you will.

I'm going to keep mine mostly stock (M1123 with Melton-rebuild 6.5NA and 4L80), fix what doesn't work, likely will convert it to a 4-seater with soft top, doors, and curtain, along with the low soft cargo cover. I want to be able to haul an ATV (Honda Rincon) in the bed... don't ask me why, I just do), so I'm likely not going to reinstall the Red Dot AC it comes with, but will likely mock up one of the Coldwater 24v console AC evap units on a radio tray with a radiator-mounted condensor and using the mounted Red Dot compressor and supplied dryer. Or, mount the R2400 evap on it's back on the center console between the front seats so I can use the back seat area for cargo (ATV) if desired, with the curtain up.

I think the stock HMMWVs look the best... I want to keep mine looking like what it was, a military vehicle. That means keeping the camo paint job, the military seats (or very minor upgrades, e.g., Oregon Aero), etc. I think the H1 clones really diminish the value. I might go as far as OD bedlining the bottom of the cabin/interior and bed, but for protection and I'd want it to appear to be stock/military from any distance. YMMV.