You've seen the movies where a guy wearing a Secret Service-style earpiece is outside of a warehouse guarding a huge steel door and then some guy says the ultra classified password and gains access, only to find the interior of the building to be the ultimate party. Girls dancing, drinks flowing, and good times rolling-it's a beautiful thing and in this story Eder Calvillo is the VIP with a platinum card. You see, when he called around to order a set of wheels for his Hummer H2 SUT, the velvet ropes weren't opening at all, but like the valedictorian asking out the cheerleading captain, Eder's last phone call to Intro wheels made his dreams come true. His H2 was going to be the first, and only, ride on the planet with billet 28-inch eight-lug wheels. Get the bottles poppin'.
Eder works hard as an electrician, he's not some slacker who happened to win the lottery, and when it came time to build a cool ride to cruise around his hometown of Houston, he picked up an H2 SUT. Wanting his first custom ride to really stand out in arguably the custom truck capital, he didn't waste any time creating a carte blanche-deserving VIP room on wheels. Starting with the H2's hefty suspension, Eder and his buddies Justin Brill and John Juarez got to work making the Hummer slightly lower than stock.
Up front, McGaughy's 2-inch drop spindles were bolted to fabricated upper and lower control arms, the front CV axles were removed, and Slam Specialies 2600 'bags bolted on. In the rear, the trio of friends created a 2x4-inch rectangular back half and then bolted a two-link to the axle with another pair of Slam 'bags. Half-inch lines and valves keep air moving quickly and two Viair 480 compressors fill the five-gallon tank with ease. Much of the suspension was chromed for extra style points and the rear axle was shortened in anticipation of the monster wheels. A slammed suspension is cool, but if the paparrazi's flashbulbs were to go off at clubs, Eder needed some body mods and paint to grab the headlines.
Arriving at Built 2 Drag (B2D) Customs, in Houston, Eder asked for a full exterior makeover and then left the H2 in their capable hands. B2D got busy shaving the front bumper and fusing sheetmetal to it for a streamlined look, and they also converted the factory suicide hood to a front-opening hood. The rear bumper was shaved, rebuilt, and then molded into the body with a cutout for the fuel cell. With the body ready for paint, Chris Gilbert, from Ekstensive Metalworks, applied the PPG Midnight Sapphire Blue top-half, sprayed the House of Kolor True Blue lower section, and airbrushed the silver dividing graphics. An Asanti mesh grille and side vents capped off the front end and painted side bars helped hide what section of frame remained visible. Under the hood, a sheetmetal intake cover was built and airbrushed, and a chromed cool-air intake keeps the 6.0L happy. Not quite ready for the red carpet, Eder took his truck to Cartronix, also in Houston, for some car audio rehab.
Eder's H28 has a custom engine...
Eder's H28 has a custom engine compartment, with the most obvious of modifications being the front opening hood.