Hilux Surf

T

teamJacob

New member
I just recently discovered the RHD 4runner, aka the Hilux Surf.

I have scoured the internet and cannot find any for possible sale.
I'm actually pretty interested.
I live in Washington State so buying one from Canada would be my best option.

Can someone possibly find me a link to sites in Canada that sell them?

Thanks!
 
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They need to be 25 years old to import into the US, so you're looking for 1986 or older, which are early 1st gens, and I've never seen one imported. You've got another 3 years or so to wait before you can snatch up a 2nd gen.
 
IanB said:
They need to be 25 years old to import into the US, so you're looking for 1986 or older, which are early 1st gens, and I've never seen one imported. You've got another 3 years or so to wait before you can snatch up a 2nd gen.
Click to expand...

Damn.
Then how is it that people import Nissan Skylines and such?
 
teamJacob said:
Damn.
Then how is it that people import Nissan Skylines and such?
Click to expand...

I didn't think people were really able to import Skylines into the US that were newer than 25 years old, other than a handful of R34's that were crash tested so they were admissible.
 
25 years to import? Ive never heard of that...

There is a guy just down the road from me with a RHD '91 Yota LC Prado he got from England a couple years ago. I think you can get anything you want from across the border. Just most ppl dont b/c of the rediculous import taxes. I could be wrong though.
 
I remember hearing the 25 year rule for you guys south of us as well. As for importers, one of the more well known ones is terra2 but I think IanB went through someone else for his.
 
teamJacob said:
I just recently discovered the RHD 4runner, aka the Hilux Surf.
Click to expand...

I just need to say that just being a RHD doesnt make it a Hilux Surf.
We have both Surf's and 4Runners here in Oz. The Surfs are all imports which were built in japan. The 4Runners are all natural. The Surf's over here have a Green compl. plate on the fire wall where as the 4Runners have the standard silver. All this with the badging diff's too. Apologies for the mini rant.
 
Though by no means an expert on the subject, I had heard about the 25 year rule as well when looking for a Toyota Surf with the 1KZTE. Some research netted the following information:

In 1988, the Motor Vehicle Safety Act was passed requiring all imported vehicles to meet US safety standards. This effectively crippled the "grey market" import business. In 1998, an exemption was granted for "classic vehicles" (over 25 years old).

Nissan Skylines were imported for a while because an importer (Motorex) paid to have some R33s crash-tested. The NHTSA allowed 90-99 Skylines to be imported. In 2005, this was revised to allow only for 96-98 R33 Skylines to be imported, because of differences between the models.

A vehicle imported to and registered in Canada can be imported to the US if it is 15 or more years old. This has been another avenue for all those Nissan Skylines.

Most of this info can be found in Wikipedia under "grey import vehicle".

I sifted through most of this info and read around on several other forums about a year ago, when looking for a diesel SUV to build into an expedition vehicle. I eventually just decided to forego the complications and swap a 1KZTE into a 2nd gen 4Runner.
 
I looked into this ALOT when I first moved here from Oz. Basically the truck has to be 15 years old. You really want the 1KZTE engine (3.0 Turbo) but they are kinda hard to come by. Those engines were bulletproof and they only stopped using them a few years ago I believe. I really wanted a manual but it was almost impossible to find one.

There are plenty of 2.4 Turbo's around in the classifieds and things but I wouldnt bother with one of those. They had known problems with cracking heads if they overheated. Seen it a million times back home. Lots advertised say that they have the replacement head but I wouldnt risk it.

Most of the importers I was looking at wanted at least $10,000 CAD for one, usually a bit more like $12,000 CAD.

The whole RHD thing made it a bit iffy as well as ICBC (auto insurer in BC) say they are gonna slap extra premiums on cars with RHD because, lets face it, its not as safe as driving a LHD car. Still hasnt happened but I still hear rumours about it.

In Australia any LHD car has to display a big sign on the back saying "Left Hand Drive" and they generally discourage it for the same reasons as its not as safe as driving a RHD down there.

Good luck with it. Ive heard other people buying rear end smashed "half" cars from Japan and having them shipped over and doing the conversion to diesel. That way you get all the parts and your still running a LHD truck.
 
The issue with the cracking heads was with the 2.4l-TE 2nd Gen 1990-93. I have an '87 2.4l 1st gen hilux, which wasn't known to have the crackin head issues. But I do just watch my temperature gauge, actually installed a better one with exact temps. Don't drive them hard on highway passes, and make sure to do Rad flushes every 20,000kms or so. I did have my truck overheat once(highway pass, loaded with gear and 38degrees out) freaked out a bit, got the rad flushed and was still having issues. Noticed the manual said you really need to burp the system after a flush (run truck at 2000rpms for 10mins adding more coolant). Once I did that she was great. Drove her across the country and back only a couple months later with no probs.

Just do your research and know what the issues are with some of these trucks. The '94 and newer models seem to be better, basically any of the 2.8(3l) engines. Also the price has come down quite a bit on the surfs especially around here, now you can get one for more like $6500-8500. Also had no issues with my insurance company, pay the same as I did with my gas 4runner.
 
O.K., I am a bit thick sometimes, but, what is the big difference between an American version 4runner and a Hilux surf??
 
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