well after many a search , i did not find any flash that allowed for 5v tolerant inputs ,
i have interfaced the 8mb flash via level converter 75LVX125 for the CE pin for the moment , have tied high the W and Hold lines high and when data is complete for the menus/fonts etc , with software protect those sectors which are used from further writing.

the PCB has been designed to support the SD and adding a flash chip is a pain but not one that is hard to do. for an extra CE required
resistor divider may do as well , but ill test after it working for add on board when done.

what i have found is some of the flash chips support duel / quad spi , which if you got the pins for connecting the W and hold pins , can allow for upto 4 bit write/ reads - somethin i not seen as example in code

as i have to use a SD and using SDFS3.bas include for it , iwill use some of the same varables so i am not boging down the cpu with more duplicated varables for the buffers ,

see how it goes in the next few days and post the code , cos i really hate doing the wheel if i can avoid ,

Flash chips have advantages in cost/ speed/ size over the EEprom and I2C , even after the need for level converters

one day wish list is that PIC'S have level converters built in on all ports but that a big ask as they dont want to do it it seems