Well, I have the truck home. I drove over from Blenheim to Nelson ~110km. It just purrs along beautifully. Drove up The Whangamoa hills (pretty long steep run) in 5th at 90 without any trouble, temp gauge didn't move. Gearbox is very quiet and shifts very smooth. Fuel gauge has hardly moved off full for a long twisty and hilly run.

So, all in all, a really decent truck in tip-top condition. The manual shift with the 3.0td should be really common. It's a proper match that works so well I'm astonished they weren't produced in great numbers. I suppose they were for the Japanese market. The 3.0td in a manual is kind of rare. I practically stole it for $5000.

With the engine running, there is a little puff against my hand over the oil fill. I guess that's normal, well, hoping it is anyhow. It did drop a 5c piece sized spot of oil on the ground after I stopped. I can see where wind has blown about 6-10 drops on to the down pipe after 1.5hrs cruising. It isn't running down from anywhere, just coming straight off the bottom of the bell housing, so I guess some work will need to be done. I did expect at least something. I'll be able to tell for sure after I wash the engine down and have a proper look.








The engine bay is not too clean like a car yard that coats everything in silicone, but not too dirty so that it seems neglected. Pretty well just what you want to see.





So both patients on the operating table for swapping bits and pieces over. Note the battery chargers. Some moron flattened the batteries over night



I changed over the wheels today. It does look better with Lensos on imo.

 

Damn it's defective! The steering wheel is on the wrong side!

:wabbit2:

 

Witchery indeed! Actually, being right handed and resting the rifle on the wing mirror, I'm a much better shot this way over.