Intercooler Surfs

[John G]

Hi everyone,

Firstly; great forum

2nd - Intercoolers on 3rd gen 3.0's

As I understand this is the engine to go for (?) but what is in a model number/name that denote intercooler (apart from the word intercooler!)

Are they only fitted after a certain year? Were they fitted as standard?

I've seen 3rd gens with and without intercoolers and wanted to know how to spot them without seeing the vehicle. Some sellers don't know a whole lot about their engines and I don't want to have to travel to view a Surf just to find it's not an intercooler!

If any one can spare the time I'd really appreciate the advice

[That Ruddy Squirrel]

Hi everyone,

Firstly; great forum

2nd - Intercoolers on 3rd gen 3.0's

As I understand this is the engine to go for (?) but what is in a model number/name that denote intercooler (apart from the word intercooler!)

Are they only fitted after a certain year? Were they fitted as standard?

I've seen 3rd gens with and without intercoolers and wanted to know how to spot them without seeing the vehicle. Some sellers don't know a whole lot about their engines and I don't want to have to travel to view a Surf just to find it's not an intercooler!

If any one can spare the time I'd really appreciate the advice

1stly WELCOME john,

2ndly the easiest way to tell if the intersooler is there or not is to check the bonnet - see the last post here - if you check the picture you will see a scoop, ask the seller if the bonnet has the factory fitted scoop, if no then no intercooler.


Trev

[windsurfer]

Hi and welcome to the madhouse,

As far as I am aware, the intercooler is just a 3rd generation (chassis no: kzn185), the scoop in the bonnet gives it away). You can actually get these for any 3rd gen:

http://www.toyotahilux.com/index.php...id=169&vid=916

This site explains the intercooler better than me:

http://www.worcesterroadmotors.co.uk/surf.asp

The 3L td engine is great, the intercooler one is better but you will pay more for it and they are more rare. In my opinion, any 3rd gen is fine but if you find a suitable intercooler version then great. You just have to ask yourself if its worth the £1000/1500 extra? It only really helps the performance slighly and if you're after a fast car, this is not what you should be looking at. Hope this helps, I think surfs are brilliant, excellent fun.
Cheers
Simon (windsurfer)

[John G]

Guys - thanks for the real swift replies!

Its so simple - cheers

I'm going to do a fair bit of towing (boats) so thought the intercooler model would be better? (though more thirsty on fuel??)

One more! Is a turbo timer an extra or standard fit + is it worthwhile?

[stormforce]

Guys - thanks for the real swift replies!

Its so simple - cheers

I'm going to do a fair bit of towing (boats) so thought the intercooler model would be better? (though more thirsty on fuel??)

One more! Is a turbo timer an extra or standard fit + is it worthwhile?

hi john i think the t/timer is an extra plus you are not allowed to leave a vehicle running un-attended over here so you would have to be carefull where you park up so you don't get caught by the boys in blue

[Cmar]

The vented bonnet was available as an option on the 3rd gen, so it might be a better idea to as the dealer if there is an intercooler on top of the engine!

[fergus]

I had to take the turbo timer off mine to get it throught the SVA as Mr DVLA was giving me grief about the fact the engine could run without the key being in the ignition. My very limite dknowledge (gleaned from here!) is that unless you are doing really heavy work with ur surf there is no great benifit in having a turbo timer (I'm sure i will be enlightened soon if i have this wrong!0

[Tallyman]

I went to Roughtrax on Wednesday and spoke to Barry about mpg difference between 3.0L 2nd & 3rd Gens. He said he's actually got high 30's mpg in an intercooled 3rd Gen on M-way journeys and averaged 29mpg, which is far better than most 2nd Gen 3.0L. I would think from that that towing with an intercooled 3rd Gen is going to be far more economic that 2nd Gen. Mine only does around 18-19 towing my caravan, so mid to high 20's would be a great improvement.