Ok some feedback:
I have travelled 10 000 km now since first startup.......according to the odometer I have done 110 000km
Evidence that someone had his fingers in there at some time to facilitate a haircut, but i knew that when i bought the vehicle. No ways a 29 year old SFA with the amount of use only has 250 000km on.
So far i have only had one breakdown when a fuel hose clamp poped, It was a wurth clamp and did not expect that.
5min later i was up and running again.
We have removed the tank about 9 times due to a fuel leak. eventually figured that the fuel was creeping along the threads of the bolts that hold the fuel pump canister onto the tank. Braised the heads so that the bolts now became studs and problem solved.
Now came the suspension upgrade.
What a mission, in out in out in out...... change blades, change shocks, change blades again, new u-bolts, new blades and so it continued.
Too hard too soft, bump steer, wandering on the road, you name it we did it and changed it 20 times. Eventually we got to a point where it became acceptable. Problem with these old SFA hiluxes is that if you make it soft then the vehicle needs stabilizer/sway bars which all modern vehicle have that have a nice soft ride. So we made the ride harder until the point we had good a balance between ride comfort and sway.
Somewhere in between the bakkie also got a Gearmax Diff with gearlock that was bought from Claud here on the forum.
Next on the list was the rear propshaft. Had some strange vibrations although it was a newly built propshaft.
had the prop shaft rebuilt and rebalanced 4 times at the same place. Eventually I went to two other propshaft rebuilders and one guy stood out and promised to work with me to fix the prop shaft.
Two days later I had a vibration free shaft. I also made a solid shaft but the competence of the first rebuilder went into making that so it vibrates. Will send it to the good guy when I have some time.
Other than the above and a few rattles that have been sorted out the vehicle is my daily ride and I am a happy camper. I get 7.5km / lt if driving sensibly. Will change the diff ratios as time allows and the right deal comes past.