I'm not sure if I'm in the wrong section of this forum or not so let me know if I am. But I'm resurrecting my dads old 1978 sr5 its a long bed with a 20r engine in it. It is 2 wheel drive with ifs. I'm wanting to ultimately turn this into a 4x4 and lift it a bit. I want to get into this passion but I'm not sure where to start. I have no idea how 4x4 conversions work or what I'm going to need also I'm not sure where to start with lifting exactly. will a 20r even work for a 4x4?

What we've dont already:
After sitting in black berrys for the past 18 uears I decided I wanted to fix it up.
We pulled the fuel tank out expecting to see the inside completed covered in rust when we were surprised with just some stale fuel some water and some varnish on the walls. So that coating on the inside of the tank did it's job. We also checked the oil level it's good. We bottle fed the engine to see if it would run and it did. We opened up the carb and it is virtually spotless. We also did a compression test and the findings are as fallows:
Cylinder 1: 175 psi
Cylinder 2: 175 psi
Cylinder 3: 175 psi
Cylinder 4: 180 psi

Considering that this little truck has 121000 miles on it I feel like the compression is fairly good. So if anyone has any suggestions or comments on anything about this I would love to hear it.

We cleaned the inside of the fuel tank out to get the varnish out. And we're either going to buying a carb kit for the carb or buy a webber is it worth it?


I am being very optimistic about this thing I have tons of ideas that I think about every day so I'm going to list them and tell me what you think.

-cummins Diesel engine
-Chevy engine
-Rino lining the bed
-Rino lining the inside of the cab
-fabricating a new dash (the current one has some splits in it)
-converting it into a 4x4 with a solid front axle.
-suspension and body lift. What would be better?
-fabricating new bumpers
-putting a deep straight pipe on it
- converting it into a street legal crawler

So what would I need I've heard of people using Chevy parts on these toyotas
What Chevy parts would I need what engine would be best? is mine okay? Links or answers would be so helpful.

,Thank you.

 

Also I tried looking for threads about my truck but I'm having a hard time finding anyone whos workin on anything older then a 1980 sr5