Imnosaint
Gone Microcamping
I'd love to see more.
ImNoSaint's H3 Build
- Thread starter Imnosaint
- Start date
I'd love to see more.
Imnosaint
Gone Microcamping
Auxiliary Lighting
One of the earliest mods on the H3 was the installation of a pair of Hella 700ff lamps to the grille guard, and while they doubled my visibility off-road, I wanted more shine on the peripheral, and closer to eye-level. I also wanted illumination off the rear of the H3 for backing and working to set up camp in the dark of the night. We do a lot of night travel in the Summer with daytime temps past the century mark.
I went with Hella 500ff lamps for the peripheral lighting, mounting them to the air-intake covers at the A-pillars. The air intakes are a composite of two layers, the painted shell and an inner layer that mounts to the frame. The lamps are mounted aft on the intakes with stainless steel washers underneath to reinforce stability.
On top, the lamps sit on white nylon bushings to protect the finish and provide friction in adjusting the fixtures. The bushing is surrounded by a black zip tie that binds the wiring to the base, eliminating wind noise.
The rear bumper holds two 4" Cree LED 60 degree flood fixtures close to each end just ahead of the rear plastic end caps of the body work.
These tuck in nicely to a space outside of the rear door's clearance. I initially wanted them higher as a work light, but with the rear awning coming off the roof rack, there wasn't a place to mount the without drilling into the plastic D-pillar covers. I'd rather drill into the bumper, have more stability, and less conspicuousness.
Just behind the fixture is an access plug to the mounting bolts of the end caps. I drilled through these and placed a grommet through which pass the wiring of the lamps.
I made a waterproof harness underneath the truck using a Lamphus Cruizer Off-Road wiring harness. I had to modify for length, running the distance from the end cap to the engine compartment along the driver side frame rail above the fuel tank to its relay mounted in the engine bay on the driver side wall behind the battery.
All the wiring terminates at the Blue Sea Blade Fuse Box. There are six positive terminals on this, twelve if I modified the Blade. This has taken everything so far including the CB and is now maxed out.
I'll be adding one more circuit to handle the side work lights I'll be mounting to the roof rack.
I wasn't sure what to make of the Cree LEDs given their $26 tag, but I'm very impressed. We'll see about their ruggedness.
I knew the LEDs would give me a different color temp off the back of the truck. I wanted this. Some might wonder why I went old-school tungsten on the front - I did it to match color temps on the OEM headlights and driving lamps and because I'm old-school.
All fixtures are switched through Daystar illuminated rocker switches installed in a Rugged Ridge Housing kit I installed in the upper console where the old switch for the Hella 700ffs was located. The last vacancy is for the side worklights circuit.
The original plan was to use these round rocker switches installed adjacent the first switch for the 700ffs, seen here:
...but the install just wasn't clean enough for me, so I went with the Rugged Ridge setup.
One of the earliest mods on the H3 was the installation of a pair of Hella 700ff lamps to the grille guard, and while they doubled my visibility off-road, I wanted more shine on the peripheral, and closer to eye-level. I also wanted illumination off the rear of the H3 for backing and working to set up camp in the dark of the night. We do a lot of night travel in the Summer with daytime temps past the century mark.
I went with Hella 500ff lamps for the peripheral lighting, mounting them to the air-intake covers at the A-pillars. The air intakes are a composite of two layers, the painted shell and an inner layer that mounts to the frame. The lamps are mounted aft on the intakes with stainless steel washers underneath to reinforce stability.
On top, the lamps sit on white nylon bushings to protect the finish and provide friction in adjusting the fixtures. The bushing is surrounded by a black zip tie that binds the wiring to the base, eliminating wind noise.
The rear bumper holds two 4" Cree LED 60 degree flood fixtures close to each end just ahead of the rear plastic end caps of the body work.
These tuck in nicely to a space outside of the rear door's clearance. I initially wanted them higher as a work light, but with the rear awning coming off the roof rack, there wasn't a place to mount the without drilling into the plastic D-pillar covers. I'd rather drill into the bumper, have more stability, and less conspicuousness.
Just behind the fixture is an access plug to the mounting bolts of the end caps. I drilled through these and placed a grommet through which pass the wiring of the lamps.
I made a waterproof harness underneath the truck using a Lamphus Cruizer Off-Road wiring harness. I had to modify for length, running the distance from the end cap to the engine compartment along the driver side frame rail above the fuel tank to its relay mounted in the engine bay on the driver side wall behind the battery.
All the wiring terminates at the Blue Sea Blade Fuse Box. There are six positive terminals on this, twelve if I modified the Blade. This has taken everything so far including the CB and is now maxed out.
I'll be adding one more circuit to handle the side work lights I'll be mounting to the roof rack.
I wasn't sure what to make of the Cree LEDs given their $26 tag, but I'm very impressed. We'll see about their ruggedness.
I knew the LEDs would give me a different color temp off the back of the truck. I wanted this. Some might wonder why I went old-school tungsten on the front - I did it to match color temps on the OEM headlights and driving lamps and because I'm old-school.
All fixtures are switched through Daystar illuminated rocker switches installed in a Rugged Ridge Housing kit I installed in the upper console where the old switch for the Hella 700ffs was located. The last vacancy is for the side worklights circuit.
The original plan was to use these round rocker switches installed adjacent the first switch for the 700ffs, seen here:
...but the install just wasn't clean enough for me, so I went with the Rugged Ridge setup.
Last edited:
Scott H Murray
Adventure Photog
Looking good.
Imnosaint
Gone Microcamping
Thanks, Scott. So is that Dualcab Landcruiser. And so is your photography. Nice shootin', Tex.
Colorado_Outback
Adventurer
Nice. My Cherokee needs a backup light setup like that. They were weak to start with and now my tire carrier obstructs the passenger side one completely.
Imnosaint
Gone Microcamping
Thanks. Updated within the post.
Imnosaint
Gone Microcamping
The switch panel base is a modular assembly by Rugged Ridge allowing your choice of how many switches you want for your application. I ordered the base of four, two end pieces with two locking pieces, since I was going with four circuits.
The rocker switches are from DayStar and I ordered different colors to represent their respective circuits.
The '07 H3's console has a little cubby at the top end that's just beneath upper dash HVAC controls, 12V outlets and two switch blanks. I used it as illustrated above for the first switch used on the Hella 700ff installation, and thought there'd be enough room to mount four round rocker switches there, but when I drilled it out I found the switches to be too loose in their mounts and I didn't like the craftsmanship overall, so I went with the Rugged Ridge set-up.
The console on this model year has a lower base and an upper piece that clips into the base. Open the console storage door and gently pry the upper console at the seam just ahead of the door latch and the piece will easily lift out, making accommodations for the gear selector/shifter. From what I've read, if it's a manual transmission, the shift nob needs to be removed. With it out of the vehicle, I turned it over and cut the cubby part of the one-piece unit out, leaving the sides and part of the well to border the switch housing. It took a bit of finessing to get the opening just wide enough to have the housing clip in without binding, but it was pretty easy to accomplish.
I reinstalled the upper console and clipped in the switch housing and wired up the round rockers I had to test out the circuits.
The Daystar switches came a few days later and I finished the install.
Imnosaint
Gone Microcamping
Auxiliary Lighting Complete
Two Kawell 18W LED fixtures have been mounted on each side of the Garvin roof rack and serve as work lights.
I used another Lamphus Cruizer harness, modifying for length and weatherproofing. The wiring from the rack enters the roof rack channel on the H3 and is pulled under the black plastic cladding down the driver side A-pillar to the relay in the engine compartment. These 18W fixtures put out a nice flood pattern to dissolves into soft shadows, little glare. I noticed Hella uses the same fixture in their product lineup. Great value at $12 per fixture.
I moved the CB circuit to the factory fuse box on an aux circuit to make space on the blade for the work light circuit.
The work light circuit finished the switch panel on the console. I'm pleased with the result.
All together they draw just under 26 amps, though they won't be used at the same time. The Blue Sea Blade fuse box made this easy to engineer. Next on the list, dual battery set-up.
Two Kawell 18W LED fixtures have been mounted on each side of the Garvin roof rack and serve as work lights.
I used another Lamphus Cruizer harness, modifying for length and weatherproofing. The wiring from the rack enters the roof rack channel on the H3 and is pulled under the black plastic cladding down the driver side A-pillar to the relay in the engine compartment. These 18W fixtures put out a nice flood pattern to dissolves into soft shadows, little glare. I noticed Hella uses the same fixture in their product lineup. Great value at $12 per fixture.
I moved the CB circuit to the factory fuse box on an aux circuit to make space on the blade for the work light circuit.
The work light circuit finished the switch panel on the console. I'm pleased with the result.
All together they draw just under 26 amps, though they won't be used at the same time. The Blue Sea Blade fuse box made this easy to engineer. Next on the list, dual battery set-up.
Imnosaint
Gone Microcamping
Seat Back Pack Redux
If you've been following this build you know I've gone through a couple of versions of creating an application using the seat back for better storage, but none to my satisfaction - either too much or not enough.
This year for Fathers' Day my thoughtful kids gave me the Condor camera bag pictured above, a 9"x12"x8" padded bag with a front zipper pocket with a mesh pocket and sleeves. The photo gear I use tucks away into another bag fitted for another compartment, so I repurposed the Condor bag to hold fowl weather gear and other items for our travels, and devised a way to attach it to the driver-side seat back.
I had a duplicated order of a Yak Gear Kayak Deck Kit, the same kit used for the bug-out bag retainer, and thought to create a cleat on the seat back that would take the elastic cord from four MOLLE Web Dominators, that create mounting points on MOLLE panels.
The mount is snug and solid, taking the weight of the bag and its contents. The bag appears to be resting on the dog deck, but is actually suspended.
If you've been following this build you know I've gone through a couple of versions of creating an application using the seat back for better storage, but none to my satisfaction - either too much or not enough.
This year for Fathers' Day my thoughtful kids gave me the Condor camera bag pictured above, a 9"x12"x8" padded bag with a front zipper pocket with a mesh pocket and sleeves. The photo gear I use tucks away into another bag fitted for another compartment, so I repurposed the Condor bag to hold fowl weather gear and other items for our travels, and devised a way to attach it to the driver-side seat back.
I had a duplicated order of a Yak Gear Kayak Deck Kit, the same kit used for the bug-out bag retainer, and thought to create a cleat on the seat back that would take the elastic cord from four MOLLE Web Dominators, that create mounting points on MOLLE panels.
The mount is snug and solid, taking the weight of the bag and its contents. The bag appears to be resting on the dog deck, but is actually suspended.
Imnosaint
Gone Microcamping
Smittybilt XRC Winch
This has been awhile in coming, since our Three Hour Tour, in fact; a winch. Since then I've yet to be in a situation where we've needed planetary gears - not for lack of trying - we've just had better approach angles, more adept at articulating a fly-by-wire throttle, and more prudent lines where we overcame obstacles and terrain without even so much as the Hi-Lift or the TREADs deployed. But I keep going back to the Barracks trail, that night we spent, and even though we made it out at some aesthetic cost to the Montero, a winch would've made it a short trip.
It's a Smittybilt 9500 lb. XRC standard winch and it's mounted on a MaxMate Grille Guard with a winch mount. I replaced the N-Fab Grille Guard, reluctantly - I was hoping to get an integrated mount fabricated that would fit behind the stock grille to preserve the approach angle, but to no avail.
The swap adds another 120 pounds to the front end, retarding turn-in and adding a bit of mass to the tendency to oversteer, even though it doesn't. The winch is pretty straight forward. The time will come when the line will be replaced with a synthetic one in an effort to bring the weight down a bit.
This has been awhile in coming, since our Three Hour Tour, in fact; a winch. Since then I've yet to be in a situation where we've needed planetary gears - not for lack of trying - we've just had better approach angles, more adept at articulating a fly-by-wire throttle, and more prudent lines where we overcame obstacles and terrain without even so much as the Hi-Lift or the TREADs deployed. But I keep going back to the Barracks trail, that night we spent, and even though we made it out at some aesthetic cost to the Montero, a winch would've made it a short trip.
It's a Smittybilt 9500 lb. XRC standard winch and it's mounted on a MaxMate Grille Guard with a winch mount. I replaced the N-Fab Grille Guard, reluctantly - I was hoping to get an integrated mount fabricated that would fit behind the stock grille to preserve the approach angle, but to no avail.
The swap adds another 120 pounds to the front end, retarding turn-in and adding a bit of mass to the tendency to oversteer, even though it doesn't. The winch is pretty straight forward. The time will come when the line will be replaced with a synthetic one in an effort to bring the weight down a bit.
the matador
New member
Have you thought about beefing up the steering rack with the Outfitters Design kit? I'm planning on doing it for my H3 to beef up the front end. I've heard it helps improve steering feel as well. Love the build by the way! In the process of turning my H3 into an expedition only vehicle.
Imnosaint
Gone Microcamping
Replacing old bushings is going to tighten things up considerably and keep the rack from moving around. I've thought about this kit, but haven't been compelled to do it yet. The Bilsteins improved turn-in and response on an already solid handling geometry for me. One of these days. Glad you're enjoying the build thread. Like to see what you're doing with your H3. We need more of a presence here on ExPo.