Potential owner - tech/repair questions

Hey TW crew, within the next year I'll be buying my first ever brand new car. The Tacoma is one of my options (manual transmission, either Off-road or Sport) and I have some technical/repair questions that I haven't been able to find answers to.

Years of relying on Craigslist and FB Marketplace for my automotive purchases, have made me a decent DIYer. I've replaced clutches, done ball joints, distributors, valve cover gaskets, and more electrical troubleshooting than I care to recall. I tend to buy stuff with the intent of keeping it long term, so good engineering and ease of maintenance are big things with me. Just to give you an idea of my perspective.

1) tech manual says clutch replacement requires removal of the front diff carrier. Any idea why?
2) The direct injectors can be stamped with one of 3 stratified flow numbers. What is the difference between these 3 injector versions and has somebody been able find a way know which one your truck has without having to take off everything to put eyes on them? Perhaps it's coded into the vin number? I noticed that Savageese's D4S DI seal video for their FRS/BRZ touched upon this but AFAIK the question was never answered.
3) tech manual says that the DI fuel lines should be replaced if removed. I'll admit I have zero experience with DI engines but even still this strikes me as extremely bizarre. Once again Savageese's video touched upon this but didn't clarify. They only noted that it significantly raises the parts cost; what I'm more concerned about is parts availability in the distant future.

And yes I'm aware that Tacomas aren't BRZ's/FRS's. But Toyota designed both fuel systems so in this case I would assume my questions would have the same answers.

Thanks!

 

Strange things to be concerned about but some of the twin turbo guys might know the answer about injectors and fuel stuff. @mZiggy @MESO

 

DI fuel lines, once torqued, are then formed into each other very slightly. Not sure what the taco fuel psi but some vehicles are well over 1000psi. 1000psi will find weaknesses. That being said I have reused one time use di lines with no failures.

 

Fuel line related, I'm a ford tech, ford uses hard metal fuel lines after the high pressure pump, its similar to a flaired brake line how you can't replace just the nuts, thus you replace the whole line. This is due to a internal one time use crush washer built into each nut, much like the one time use copper crush washers for brake lines. There have been reports of these lines not being replaced and fuel leaking past the nuts and creating a risk of fire.
Doesn't leak everytime but since it says to replace it in the workshop manual and if you do not and a fire starts ford cannot be sued since they clearly said to replace the fuel line.

 

Much appreciate the informative responses. In hindsight your answers are no-duh's that I should have considered...

Brake lines can see 1500psi, meanwhile the tech manual says this engine's DI lines should be 260-400psi at idle (and Google says other DI systems can be well above 1000psi during operation as thefreshtaco noted)

So using similar connection styles would make sense!

By the way, I mis-spoke in my first post: tech manual for this engine does not say to discard the lines: it actually says that [fuel line #1 from the DI pump to the RH rail] and [fuel line #2 from the RH rail to the LH rail] can each be reused 10 times.

P.s. i was surprised to find out that the DI pump is driven by the camshaft. Has it's own roller follower for a triangular shaped cam lobe. I had assumed the pump was some kind of fancy electric powered unit but it actually reminds me of something from diesels and the carbureated days. Just the kinda stuff I like to nerd out over...

 

Nice they say the fuel line can be reused ten times.
Ford high pressure pumps are driven by a additional camshaft lobe as well, sounds like they are the same rough design.

 

Something else to consider:
Many members are approaching 100K miles. Several are over 200K miles and I just read a post from one guy who is close to 300K on a four year old truck! Know what they all have in common? They have had no problems. They all perform regular, by the manual maintenance. No special oil, no special interval just follow the manual.
There have been a few clutch failures. Toyota builds around 6% of their Tacomas in manual configuration, which equates out to about 15K trucks a year. I don't think the clutches are failing because of bad design, I think in most cases it's user error.

Anyway, welcome to the forum and while your questions are thought provoking I don't think you have to worry about any of the topics you talked about for about 10-15 years. Tacos don't do autocross or track days lol.

 

No worries, clutch failures aren't a concern with me for these trucks. I was asking about the need to remove the diff carrier because it hasn't been necessary with any 4x4 clutch replacement I've done, so I was curious why here. Perhaps more of a recommendation by the engineers than a requirement?

As far as the different DI stratified flow numbers go, I'm sure somebody will eventually spill those beans.

And yep i am a believer in Toyota's well-earned reputation for going a long time with basic maintenance (and even without). My biggest concerns/questions are usually for the distant future when it's finally time to dig into an engine and put hands on parts that may or may not be feasible or even possible to repair/replace anymore.

Thanks again everybody for responses! Overall the Tacoma checks most of my boxes so I'm gonna be looking forward to ownership!