SURFS

[zukin]

toyota surfs whats the story they any good??? i sat in one today very comfy recaros sports steering wheel only problem is they are mainly all autos im after something manual. But other then that i was impressed with the comforts of the surf. they are all IFS i think so what do you have to do to the front lift wise?? i dont want to do a axel swap if i got one of these things ive seen a few 4runners with the front jacked up heaps with IFS whats involved and is it worth it.

i want something for comfort something to get me to work and home each day again in comfort and somethnig to pick my girlfriend up in and the odd beach run...

[Maddog]

Crank up the torsion bars or intstall Rancho Torsions. Youll get a bit off a lift plus the will be a lot meatier.

Still IFS though.....

[zukin]

is that a costly exercise?? compared to a conventional spring lift??? i dont know much bout this IFS stuff at all... ive seen a few that have been lifted heaps looks yeh as you say meaty...

is a surf worth the money for my needs do you think if i can find a manual???

anyone got pics??

[SaNTa]

You can crank up the front torsion bar to get some height but it won't flex for shit. The rear being coils is a bit of a differnt story and you can get some half decent improvment by throwing away the sway bar off the back, makes no dif if you take it off the front.

Lifting the front end properly (IE not just cranking it up) is considerably more expensive then a coil spring job. Can't remember the price but it was enough for me to go out and buy a landcruiser to smash up instead

..and it still wont flex! in the front... ifs is teh devil !!!


If your only going to plod around on the beach and your not out for big flex then surfs are great. I have had mine for 40 000 k's and had little problems. Very reliable..

Except......... the head. Blew the crap out of it in the first few weeks and if you dont mind spending 2 1.2 thousand + fixing it up then its not a problem. Mine got changed to an assuie 3lt head and havent had a problem since then (It's a 2.4 turbo BTW)

Check out your insurance first because some bastards give you a hard time because its a grey import but generaly it is pretty good now. If you need spare parts tell them its a 4 runner else idjits behind counters tend to freak out and say they don't have that part listed ;P

All in all it has been the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned, power everything and very confortable to drive around in so if you are not looking for hardcore 4x4 action then I don't think they are too bad at all.

BTW for reference I have a 91 2.4 turbo.

[zukin]

you got any photos santa??? its either that or a sr5 or something in the 4runner?? im not a fan with these insurance companys im only 18 so they dont really like young fellas having good 4x4s specially turbos?? so maybe ill have to settle for an sr5 4 runner dont know i dont want to have dramas with the insurance companys they tend to take ya money way to easily???

these sr5s are costly but they are more then the surfs??? what about rv6 4runner i cant see anything being as roomy as the surf inside most comfortable ive ever been in a 4x4 i think..

[POS]

You can crank up the front torsion bar to get some height but it won't flex for *****. The rear being coils is a bit of a differnt story and you can get some half decent improvment by throwing away the sway bar off the back, makes no dif if you take it off the front.

Lifting the front end properly (IE not just cranking it up) is considerably more expensive then a coil spring job. Can't remember the price but it was enough for me to go out and buy a landcruiser to smash up instead

..and it still wont flex! in the front... ifs is the devil !!!


If your only going to plod around on the beach and your not out for big flex then surfs are great. I have had mine for 40 000 k's and had little problems. Very reliable..

Except......... the head. Blew the crap out of it in the first few weeks and if you dont mind spending 2 1.2 thousand + fixing it up then its not a problem. Mine got changed to an assuie 3lt head and havent had a problem since then (It's a 2.4 turbo BTW)

Check out your insurance first because some bastards give you a hard time because its a grey import but generaly it is pretty good now. If you need spare parts tell them its a 4 runner else idjits behind counters tend to freak out and say they don't have that part listed ;P

All in all it has been the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned, power everything and very confortable to drive around in so if you are not looking for hardcore 4x4 action then I don't think they are too bad at all.

BTW for reference I have a 91 2.4 turbo.

I had one for about 60000km and had very few problems, little stuff like leaking seals etc but nothing 1 hour in the shed and a $2.00 part would fix.

Mine never had a problem with the head, i did change the thermostat sraight away as a lot of the Imports from japan are use to running in colder temps!!!

I wound the front up about 1 1/2 to 2 inches and put a set of old man emus in the rear and it was quite nice to drive on the road!!

Good value for a cheap tourer but for medium to hard 4WDing there not to flash!!!!

[camo]

they are not to bad as a light beach runner and such
have a mate with one and he took six teeth off the front ring gear first time out not happy!!!! :mad:

but that might be the importers fault (long story)
and the money u would save would cover the insurance
he got his for $18,000 or $19,000
with tjm winch bar ipf spot lighs 2 full sets of mags tjm tow bar
apart from diff dramas he has been impressed
just buy from some one who has a good name around town

[Wendle]

... ifs is the devil !!!

hahahaha.... The most accurate metaphor I have heard here yet..

[SaNTa]

No photo's zuk, not realy photo worthy now anyway because I tend not to look after it. Just a road car so who cares. It did have awesome 10 inch mags but the RTA didnt like them very much so I stuck them on my cruiser. I bet they wont like that very much either if they catch it

POS, I dont think the thermostat was the problem with mine. It's temperature ran prefect until one day it shot right up to max in litteraly a few seconds. Game over :/

The head was totaly fucked. I still got it here and amazed it ran at all. Terminated and been going that way for a long time by the look of it.

I have heard 1 in 5 heads where up the shit but that is only what I have heard and seen no actiual facts on that number. I do know that my mates surf also shit it's head tho. Maybe it is the thermostat but I don't think so in my case and what the hell, it doesnt hurt to change it anyway. It could save a lot of cash.

[POS]

they are not to bad as a light beach runner and such
have a mate with one and he took six teeth off the front ring gear first time out not happy!!!! :mad:

DOH!!!!!!

SORRY DUDE I FORGOT ABOUT THIS ASWELL!

I BUSTED 2 FRONT DIFFS, RIPPED ABOUT 6 OR 7 TEETH OFF AND THE THIRD DIFF WAS ALMOST TOTALLED WHEN I GOT RID OF IT!!!!

But other than that it was fine

[zukin]

yeh but im not using it for anything really serious so im at less risk really??? surely alittle beach work shouldnt hurt to much

[BeZeRK]

i dunno what you guys do? i got a 4RUNNER, which is the same, (mine is turbod, running 32" muds offroad and with respinsable driving, NEVER broken anything?

yous must do some real dumb shit!

[zukin]

have u got photos bezerk??? and how much did you pay for it etc???

[camo]

was not what i would call hard driving

lose up hill slope not a huge amount of revs
not the line i would of taken but it should still not of brokin'

[BeZeRK]

Yea, here ya go, pics of it... Has changed a little more since these pics, no recent ones...

I paid about 15 for it 2 years ago, Stock as a rock 2.8 diesel.
Spent about another 10g on it so far, prob more if i added it all up..
Its a great car, might not be a serios rock crawler but it gets mnost places as you can see in the pics!

send me ya email and ill send ya some more if ya want!

[BeZeRK]

by the way, its 1991 model, 2.8 turbo (intercooler getting done atm) bull bar, rear bar, OME suspension (2" lift by winding up the torsion bars works fine, with new rear springs) snorkel, radios, roof console, ummm cant remember... But i also got bucket seats and steering wheel, which you would already have in a surf!

thinking of locking mine after the intercooler is in and some proper sliders and it should keep up offroad!

The big lifts you see they actually put a new lower front crossmember on, costs about 4000 i beleive, Liam on this board makes one of the kits. Personally, min goes good enough offroad and the onroad comfort (compared to a leaf hilux) is AWESOME! especailly when its going to be on tar most of the time..

[NICK]

yous must do some real dumb *****!

That would explain why mine is FARKED.

But honestly, i have had mine for about 70,000 now, had 4 radiators, 5 thermostats, 2 water pumps, 3 fans, 2 thermo fans, 2 diffs, 1 engine, 2 lockers, a clutch, 500liters of oil, an intercooler, too much boost, a blown turbo, blown head, blown clutch slave cylinder, clutch master cylinder, 4 front shafts, 2 rear shafts, 1 stolen one from ruff, 3 passenger guards, 2 drivers and a bonnet, a new tail gate a stack of indicators, a fuse box, volt regulator, glow plug warmer relay, which reminds me they were new aswell, But yeah over all i would say they are pretty reliable, the only reason i wouldnt buy one again is the fact that they are full bodied which is serious 4wheeling is bad mmmmmmk


NICK


p.s I did break all the gear at the mall showing off, so DONT show off.

[N*A*M]

nick did you mention the transfer case drain plug? :wink:

[bj on roids]

i dunno what you guys do? i got a 4RUNNER, which is the same, (mine is turbod, running 32" muds offroad and with respinsable driving, NEVER broken anything?

yous must do some real dumb *****!

you drive like a sissy

[bj on roids]

... ifs is the devil !!!

hahahaha.... The most accurate metaphor I have heard here yet..

I was ROFLMAO when i read this, "IFS is the devil" I think ill get a sticker for my bros truck.

[bj on roids]

and the flops

[bj on roids]

yous must do some real dumb *****!

That would explain why mine is FARKED.

But honestly, i have had mine for about 70,000 now, had 4 radiators, 5 thermostats, 2 water pumps, 3 fans, 2 thermo fans, 2 diffs, 1 engine, 2 lockers, a clutch, 500liters of oil, an intercooler, too much boost, a blown turbo, blown head, blown clutch slave cylinder, clutch master cylinder, 4 front shafts, 2 rear shafts, 1 stolen one from ruff, 3 passenger guards, 2 drivers and a bonnet, a new tail gate a stack of indicators, a fuse box, volt regulator, glow plug warmer relay, which reminds me they were new aswell, But yeah over all i would say they are pretty reliable, the only reason i wouldnt buy one again is the fact that they are full bodied which is serious 4wheeling is bad mmmmmmk


NICK


p.s I did break all the gear at the mall showing off, so DONT show off.

sound as bad as me, breaking shiat showing off HAHAHAHA

[NICK]

nick did you mention the transfer case drain plug? :wink:

yeah and one of them.

[BeZeRK]

let me guess? you cracked the alloy by tightening it to much!! SO many that come to my work have got cracks around them, only the transfer filler plug normally, on 80 series and stuff, they seem weak, people WAY over tighten them!

[RUFF]

let me guess? you cracked the alloy by tightening it to much!! SO many that come to my work have got cracks around them, only the transfer filler plug normally, on 80 series and stuff, they seem weak, people WAY over tighten them!

No he just did it up with his fingers and thought it would be all good

Nick is a stoner

[NICK]

let me guess? you cracked the alloy by tightening it to much!! SO many that come to my work have got cracks around them, only the transfer filler plug normally, on 80 series and stuff, they seem weak, people WAY over tighten them!

No he just did it up with his fingers and thought it would be all good

Nick is a stoner

yeah that sounds about right.


NICK

[bj on roids]

i did it up so tight i twisted the drivetrain 90 degrees within the chassis, sometimes i dont know my own strength

[BeZeRK]

is that why you got half a nissan sticking out ya ass BJ?

[mick!]

I have a 92 model 4runner, its an aussie model V6. Its great, I have a mate with a landcruiser and I easily go anywhere he does.

I have selected a 2" lift for the rear and have wound the torsion bars up at the front to make it all level out. Theres not too much flex in the front anf the rear could do with a detachable sway bar for the rear.

As I said mine is the V6 and loves a little bit of herbs...... I have a snorkel, finer filter air cleaner etc in mine and it goes great. The only things I am now looking to do is front and rear Air lockers and a Long range fuel tank. That would make it the best.

Do yourself a favour and get a 4 runner, or a surf...... or else make the jump to the bigger truck and get a cruiser.


Good luck