Always in for a nice Churracso
The 4-speed can be upgraded to a 5-speed or the ratio in the diffs can be changed. I often thought about that for my '89er but at the end, I would only use it to drive at lower RPM, not to go faster. And therefore it wouldn't pay off.
Some gusy down here swap for a MWM-engine which is usually installed in a Troller. 3.2Liter-Diesel with 170hp or so. My dream would be a OM366LA (6Liter-Diesel with up to 240hp stock), but at the end, I would still lack of RPM to get the truck faster.
I guess, I will keep mine like that and just take care of it and be happy with a reliable truck.
That's a common problem, not only the electrical things. On old cars "everybody" was allowed to test his mechanical skills. Brazilians are supernice people, but they love to work with jungle-interim-repairs and keep it like that.
I had to fix all those attemps an mine as well. Just as example: the lock-nuts for the hubs on the front axle hab been opened and closed with a chisel. I mean, it'S ok for a emergency-repair in the jungle, but pls fix it in a proper way at home. Well, not down here, the car is driven forever and when it brakes down again, it's "bad luck" (and not bad maintenance).
I replaced all the joints of the steering and the lock-nuts there are 32mm. I bought a suitable wrench and brought to the repair shop, which did jsut the alignment. The mechanic was kind of surprised, when I told him not to use the f***ing water-pump-pliers and use the wrench I bought.
The tools are commonly avail and I have most of them in my garage, but you hardly find them with "normal" people or even in a normal workshop. They love those kind of workarounds in whatever they do and they are even proud of it. What really bothers me is the fact, that the tools AND the spare parts are avail in generall, they are just to .... (I don't know their motivation) to do it.
I hope you don't get in a bad mood, but for sure you will find more worn out threads, destroyed lock-nuts, "creative workarounds" and so on. The only way to get it done, is do it right. It took me a year on mine, now it's kind of ok, after I bought tons of nuts, sealing-rings, screws, lockplates, washer, ....