Looking to possibly buy a Super Custom

Hi all, I'm new on here.

I live in Adelaide, Sth Aust & currently have a 2.8L diesel Toyota 4runner which has been used for tent camping over the last 11 years. My partner & I are at the stage where we would like to go camping without having to put up a tent in the elements. As I've had good experience with Toyota (423000km) , I'm looking at a Hiace to convert into a campervan.

The dilemma is whether to stick with local RWD product (hundreds of them around) or go for the imported AWD version (only seen one). The reason I am a bit hesitant about an imported vehicle is that I have heard some horror stories about the Surf's, hence why I bought a local 4runner. Having had a 4WD, it would be good to have the AWD even if only for better grip on some of our rough unsealed roads.

I am looking for one with the 3.0L turbo diesel motor and prob ideally a manual transmission as they would, I think, tend to be a bit more economical. They are unfortunately a bit on the rare side. If auto trans is all that's available, then that will be ok too.

I know you guys will have biased views but I am looking for advice and experiences.

What are common problems that can occur with the 3.0L TD model?
How easy is it to get spare parts, particularly as I'm not on the east coast?
Do they share an identical (not just similar) motor to another Toyota common in Australia (e.g. I have heard that some share the same motor as the Prado, is this similar or exactly the same?)
Availability of non-engine related spare parts?
Anything in particular I should look for when I go to inspect & test drive the model of interest?
How will they cope with the 40C heat we have here in Adelaide as they were built for the Japanese market which is located in a considerably cooler climate?

There don't appear to be any for sale in Adelaide, but I found a car yard in Sydney that has about 8-10 for sale. I'm not sure whether I should mention their name at this stage, but if that's ok, then I would like to find out if anyone has dealt with them. I may be up for a trip to Sydney to check one out when the finances look favourable.

At this stage I am just doing my homework so I will be better informed when it's time to get serious.

Would be good to hear from anyone who has one in Adelaide environs.

Hope you guys can help.

Apologies for the long post

regards,

Werner

3.0 engine used in many Toyota vehicles, spares for the engine no problem.

The drive chain Hiace specific but fairly bullet proof.

Get one you won't regret it.

Welcome Werner,

I can't answer many of your questions but will happily share my experience. I live in Melbourne and as shown in my avatar have a 1996 Auto AWD model. I have not had any problems re overheating and have driven it quite a bit on hot days including towing in 40deg heat. In this forum there is a thread explaining about the dampened response on the temp gauge so I will never know exactly how close I have come to overheating.

You will always hear about the duds more often (no one complains that theirs hasn't broken yet). I have had no problems with any of electrical or mechanical systems and mine has done over 200,000km now. The 1kz motor is the same as in the earlier prado's but some of the ancilliary items like the alternator will be quite different.

My AWD weighs 2.1 tonnes without me in it so the fuel consumption on the open road of about 7.5km/litre (or about 13l/100km) is not so surprising. It will still get this with the caravan attached.

Mine will not fit under many shopping centre car parks at a height of just over 2m so now I just leave my high roof bars on and park outside. The RWD models are lighter, lower and get better fuel consumption as a consequence.

Mine did have a tiny biit of rust around the bottom of the windscreen channel (which I have just fixed) but this is always possible with the channel rubber sealing on any vehicle and there are no rust problems anywhere else. I have learned to occasionally silicone lube my central moonroof rubber so it doesn't stick in the hot weather but apart from front hub lube (after driving through floods) , oil and filters I haven't had to do anything. As a precaution I had the timing belt done at 148,000km when I bought it but looking at the used one (which looked quite new) it had been done at the 100,000km mark as it should have.

On this forum there are threads regarding radiator troubles including broken plastic radiator pipes but when I checked mine just in case the whole lot is definitely brass (maybe I'm just lucky or does anyone else have brass tanks & fittings all round?).

Mine has always been tight to drive with very little body roll and a perfectly smooth drivetrain so any non abused and maintained one should drive neatly without any clunks, bangs or graunches. If it drives like a Mitsubishi Delica it probably is one ;-).

I love my super custom (the biased bit) and it will only be prised out of my hands when I'm cold & dead.

Apologies for the even longer post.

Thanks Clive & CustardCrazy. Quite a bit of useful information there. Would like to see one in the "flesh" so to speak. The only one I saw in Adelaide was before April last year, next door to my unit of all places!! That's what brought my attention to the fact that they existed. Will keep looking.....

Hi Werner,

It seems there are no SC's available in SA at the moment but you could start by looking at a Nissan Elgrand to get the juices flowing. There are about 6 for sale in Adelaide with a range of options (including AWD). I have a mate with a 2WD Homy 8 seater which has given him no problems the couple of years he's had it. While the Toyota build quality is arguably the best these Nissan's aren't bad either. Not sure if you ever get to Melbourne but there are always Super Custom's for sale here.

Cheers, Dave

Hi Dave,

just had a look at the Nissan Elgrande, I'm afraid it doesn't do anything for my juices, lol.

There appears to be about 20 SC's on carsales.com australiawide atm in the 4WD/AWD 3.0L turbo diesel version. Now, just looking at those ads, gets my juices flowing Also had a bit of a look at the section of the forums where people show off their vehicles, some nice vehicles there.

My partner & I had been discussing a camping trip to Otways & Yarra Ranges possibly in the next month or so, so would have the opportunity to check out some vehicles in Melbourne then. Meantime, I have to do something about getting my finances in order so that I can go onto the next step.

Thanks for your thoughts.

regards,

Werner

Update : I've spotted a '95 SC Diesel for sale in Mt Gambier with 147000km at what seems to be a fairly good price (based on looking at prices of other SC's with similar km). The ad however doesn't say what size engine it has. I'm only really looking at the 3.0 litre Turbo diesel version. Also I'm wondering how genuine the 147000 km are as a lot of the SC's seem to have low km for their age. Any thoughts?

Might have to ring the owner next week. Could get through the financials with a bit of stuffing around but it would lower my comfort zone for a while. As Mt Gambier is a considerable distance from Adelaide, I would want to be sure that the vehicle is likely to be in good nick before going there to have a look at it.

Hi Werner, I'm sure that is a 1KZ engined vehicle as it is a 95 and that was the only engine then. Where it would say on the photo of the rear it is cut off. Looks the same as mine except for the non airbag steering wheel. Mine doesn't have any honda and suzuki stickers on it either! In the second line of the paper taped to the screen it seems to say 3.0 too. Most SC's haven't done more than 100,000 when they come over from japan so 150,000 on the clock now should be genuine. This would only have been driven on Sundays to take his race bikes to the track.

If you can get the chassis number you can look up the specs to check. It is under a plastic cover next to the drivers seat (outboard side over the wheel arch)

Cheers, Dave

Hi Dave, thanks for that info. Must admit I didn't really read the paper ad in the back window that closely. Seems like the original price was about $1000 higher too. Will have to try and see if RAA can do an inspection in Mt Gambier as he does say "any inspection welcome".

Just when you don't think there are any SC's in Adelaide I saw 3 in 2 days!

I had my first (brief) drive in one on Sunday, jury is still out. Bodywork was too rough for what I want to use the vehicle for, so back to the search.

I have been reading a few of the "for sale" ads and have come across at least 3 vehicles with the 3.0L turbo diesel engine, which have either had the head reconditioned or replaced or even the entire engine replaced.

I was under the impression that the 3.0L was less prone to head cracking than either the 2.4L or 2.8L turbo diesel engines. Is it just a case of bad maintenance or is there an inherent problem with the cooling system on the SC's?

On the vehicle with the head replaced, the inlet & outlet for the coolant had been enlargened, thus allowing more coolant to flow through the engine and theoretically help with the cooling. This sounds like a good idea, but would doing this modification weaken the strength of the head in the long run?

Also, how messy is it to do the standard oil & filter change on these vehicles?

I am not that mechanically minded, so would appreciate an opinion of those with superior mechanical knowledge.

Hi Werner,

The oil and filter change is easier than on most vehicles as you just flip up the passenger seat and the filter and filler are within easy reach. The filter goes on upside down but toyota have made it so that it has a drain through a pipe to underneath next to the sump plug so when you take the old one off it is not messy as long as you have the oil drain tray placed underneath already.

It is possible that everyone loves their SC's so much that the only ones for sale are ones that had problems great enough to induce disposal. I think on this board there are a couple of threads regarding head issues. We do have 1462 registered bods on this forum so maybe it is not so common.

Cheers, Dave

That thought had crossed my mind re problem vehicles for sale, they just want to offload them onto some unsuspecting person.

I did ring up about that vehicle in Mt Gambier. It had had a lot of things replaced on it including the head. Although the price was affordable, I didn't take that one any further.

I'm thinking maybe it's better to go through a dealer who imports these vehicles. You would think that they would check out these vehicles properly, at least that's what they say on their website. Also, they do offer a warranty for whatever that's worth. If you are the first Australian owner and the vehicle is in good nick, you can then look after the vehicle properly yourself.

I'm going to ring back a dealer in Sydney today, although I wasn't impressed by his "politician answer" to my queries on the email I sent the caryard. I guess it's just used car salesmen being used car salesmen.

I had posted up a thread asking if anyone else had dealt with this particular caryard, but have had no response so far. I do remember reading somewhere on this forum that someone had used them, but can't find that thread and that person seems to be inactive on this forum.

Re changing the oil filter, I would have thought that it should in theory be less messy than my 4runner which has the filter sitting sideways over the wheel axle. I always dread having to change it as I know there will be some oil going astray, even with an ice-cream container under the filter.

What is the oil capacity of the 1KZ-TE engine, with & without filter?

Hi Werner.

With the filter 7.7 litres and 7.0 without for the AWD
for the 2WD 7.3 and 6.6 litres respectivel. The oil filter is a Z334.

The guy I bought mine off was the importer and had a RAWS approved compliance workshop. He was so honest he got tired of the dockyard crookery and beaurocracy and has now stopped importing altogether sadly. Prestige Motorsport should be good but they're in Queensland. You can buy to order from them. www.prestigemotorsport.com.au. The price goes up and down with the Yen vs AUD. It was 106 yen to the dollar when I bought mine but now about 87 I think.

Cheers,

Dave.

Hi Dave,

I thought that the oil capacity was about 7 litres, I remember reading about it somewhere on the forum a while back but just wanted to double check.

More homework done today. Found out one of the top insurers in SA will insure a SC van for a bit more than what I pay for my current vehicle, although the excess is quite high. Still, I know that they will pay when it comes to the crunch. I'm still awaiting a reply back from my current insurer as it says on their website that they do insure imports.

Rego is about the same as what I currently pay.

I spoke to the dealer in Sydney today and he has sent me some photos. The van looks like a very clean unit to me. I have requested a few more photos of the engine and underneath which he says he will provide. Actual measured height came in at 1.97m. My roller door sits at 2.06 I think, so a bit of a tight squeeze. Driveway slopes upwards, so there may be a bit less clearance by the time geometric consideration's are taken into account. 5cm clearance & I'll be happy.

The caryard website says the price is $13990 excl on road costs, although 12 months rego & 3 yr warranty is incl. That's about the very upper limit of what I can afford atm by the time insurance & govt BS fees are added on. It's going to be a tight squeeze for a little while until my current vehicle gets sold.

The dealer said also that he won't be importing any more of the AWD version as it's getting too expensive, too much demand from South Africa and Russia driving up the prices. The 2WD version is no problem.

He said it was a pity. He's been importing vehicles for about 20 years now and apparently he's the one who enabled the SC vans to be imported. So probably at present he's the dealer I would trust the most. He said some dealers are bringing in vehicles in not very good condition. Whether that's true or not , I don't know. I do remember reading about one particular dealer to stay away from, think it was on the forum here.

I'm hoping that the other pics will show minimal rust underneath. I'm going to run the pics by my mechanic and if he says it's worth pursuing, then a sudden trip to Sydney next week may be in order. I have already warned my boss about it and he was ok with it.

This could be my best chance to get the vehicle I'm after, so wish me luck. I really appreciate all your feedback, it's been invaluable.

cheers for now, Werner

Hi Werner , I bought our super custom van from Preferred Autos at Labrador on the Gold Coast ..good people to deal with and they have a large range of imported vans available ..
Hope you find what your after ...cheers Terry

Update :

I've received the pics of the undercarriage, engine & Aust compliance plate which indicates it's a Nov, '95 KZ106.

The undercarriage looked clean with no apparent bashing history.

Engine looked fairly clean, but the engine probably would have been steam cleaned. I have left the photos with my mechanic and will see what he's got to say tomorrow.

Also, I had a friend come over, she has a locally built RWD Hiace van. We went through the exercise of seeing if it would fit under the roller door. The height of her van was ca 201 cm (including roofracks) and fitted under the roller door with about 4-5cm to spare!! The height of the vehicle I'm interested in is about 197cm, therefore should fit comfortably. Another concern off my list

So, next step is, to call the RAA & my mechanic on Monday to clear up a few things, then give the caryard another call. If the car's deemed worth pursuing, I'll arrange to try and get across to Sydney later in the week to have a look at the van. Hope the car is still available tomorrow!!

Further update :

Rang MTA & booked a prepurchase vehicle inspection (for Wed noon). About an hour later, I received a phonecall from the caryard advising me that over the weekend, someone had put down a deposit, subject to finance. The sale went through on Thu.

Bugger, the disadvantages of being so far away.

Have found another vehicle to look at, different dealer. He suggested I put a holding deposit down on it to ensure that there will be a vehicle to look at when I get there. He said that the deposit will be refunded if I'm not happy with the vehicle. We'll see what happens.

Problem with this car is that the height is 203cm. Yesterday I created a virtual Hiace (as far as height goes) using my car, roof racks, ladder, a plank & a permapine post which produced the height of 203cm. Minimum clearance was 1.5-2cm due to the slope in the driveway. The SC wheelbase is about 300cm shorter than that of my 4Runner, so I'm not sure how much that will affect the clearance. Either way, I would have been more comfortable with a few more cm!

I arrive in Sydney about 11am on Monday and I'll be in Sydney until about 8pm Mon night when I catch the train to Albury, then bus to Adelaide. If any of you Sydneyites want to meet & say hallo, let me know.

A question : is it possible to drive with the front end a bit lower than the back (by adjustment of torsion bars) without affecting the handling too much or increasing wear & tear too much? Not too sure how these torsion bars work, even though I have them on my 4Runner.

Hi Werner,

I have some alarm bells ringing re a height of 2030 and clearance of 20mm. My van is 2050mm which I have measured before and just checked again. How easy is it to shift the mounts of your roller door up a bit? Mine has the standard KZH106 tyre size which is 215/70/15. Another thing to consider is if you brake a bit too hard the van will tip forward and the back will go up 20mm or so. Mine is standard height but there are threads here where people have lowered theirs.

Cheers, Dave

Hi Dave,

yeah, I'm not too comfortable with the limited clearance either.

Hadn't really thought about adjusting the roller door height as I thought it was at the top of it's limit. I'll have to investigate whether there is any room left to raise the roller door. Hmm, just had a quick look. Might be possible to raise the stops by max of 35mm on one side & 40 mm on the otherside, that should even out the sides. Cabn't remember if someone I know works with rollerdoors, will have to ask him.

In general, I will be reversing the van in, which is what I do with my current vehicle anyway.

In any case, the trip to Sydney will give me the opportunity to see what a clean SC van looks, feels and smells like and most importantly to see what they drive like! Unfortunately, I don't have that opportunity here in Adelaide.

I have noticed in the last month or so, that there seems to have been an explosion in the number of Mitsubishi Delicas, I almost see 1 a day. Also saw a Nissan Elgrande in the local shopping centre carpark today.

Neither one of them do much for me, I just like the look of the Hiaces much better.

cheers,

Werner

Finally got to drive a decent SC van on Monday, they are nice to drive!!

The van was very clean inside with only a cigarette burn on the passenger seat. Outside, some cosmetic scratches and a very small pinch on the rear bumper. The height of the vehicle I think is somewhere between 203 & 205cm.

The van was imported into Australia in 2007.

During the test drive, there was a bit of a short intermittent squeal which didn't appear to be associated with whether I was accelerating or decelerating. It did disappear when the aircon was switched off, so may be linked to the aircon system. MTA should be able to nail down the source of the noise, hopefully nothing major to fix.

My roller door height issue was resolved last night, now sits at 211-212 cm, so the van should fit underneath.

Next step : MTA inspection Fri morning, then decision time...

Hope the inspection doesn't find anything major problems with the vehicle as the rest of the vehicle appears to be in good condition.

Incidentally, I was down your neck of the woods, Dave (Custard Crazy) on Tuesday because I missed the bus from Albury to Adelaide due to the train from Sydney running late, so ended up spending the day in Melbourne before catching an overnight bus back home.

Hi Werner,

Good to hear about the roller door being no problem anymore. The squealing noise should be the air con compressor drive belt that needs tightening. The inspection should nail the source as you say.

Good Luck.

Cheers, Dave

Update : all going well, this thread should shortly be coming to an end, hopefully by Easter

Then I can feel a bit more comfortable about being on this forum!!

Watch this space!!

Good news & bad, but not fatal!

Good : I have purchased the vehicle I took for a drive a few weeks ago

Bad : It's stuck at the car carrier's yard in Sydney, probably not due here for another couple of weeks due to Easter

I managed to negociate the transport price into the vehicle price, so I guess I'm at the mercy of the car carrier's schedules.

I suppose I could have flown across to Sydney and driven it back, but it's a long way to Adelaide from Sydney. Probably would have cost at least as much as having it transported by the time flight & fuel costs are taken into account.

Besides, my mechanic suggested to get a wheel alignment done on it first as it has new (cheap, from internet research) tyres on it. Also he wants to check out the fluids to make sure they are clean.

So, now it's a waiting game, T-? and counting...

Congratulations Werner.

A car carrier is a good idea if you don't have the spare time. It would cost at least $250 in fuel plus $300 in flights & taxis and you need about 2 days to get over there and drive it back from Sydney to Adelaide. Miss out on bonding with it during the roadtrip though ;-o