New to the forum and to the 86 much assistance needed

[Domo]

Hello,
Long story short.
I purchased a 1984 Sr5 as a gift for my little sister. My sister and dad share the same hobby and started working on the car. Later our father passes away and the car is sitting in the back yard and can't bring herself to work on it. So now she will be leaving the country for a year (fine arts school). I decide I want to get the car running for her and in memory of our late father before she gets back. Which brought me here. I know nothing about this car so I look forward to any help and guidance in the very near future.

First off I need an entire engine swap; wires, computer, tranny, etc.
I'm looking for something domestic (also something that can be tuned) so if anything happens it can be worked on by myself or any mechanic shop where parts are readily available. I'm also open to any import engine available that can meet said criteria.
Any and all suggestions will be considered. My budget for the motor and tranny is a little over $5k.

Domo

[HASport AE86]

I would recommend ditching the SR5's 4AC engine in favor of a 16v 4AGE. They came in the GTS AE86 85-87, the MR2 and the AE92 FWD corollas. I would do this over any other engine. The parts are easily available, swapping the motor from the 4AC to the 16v 4AGE is very simple and requires little work. The cost is low as well and it can be modified more down the road for power if she/you want to go that route. If you want more info, search for "SR5 to GTS Conversion". The topic has been covered many times. Whole conversion is like $750-1500 depending on what you get.

[Domo]

HASport AE86
Thanks for the advice and references of models.
I understand there is also a 4AGZE which is the turbo version of that engine? Feel free to correct me im wrong.
Is that something worth working on?

Someone mentioned I could do a 2JZ with a 5 speed W58 which would fit without cutting into the chassis.
Your thoughts on this would be greatly welcomed.

[Gino1X1]

4AGZE has the "z" in it, denotes it's supercharged. No worries, you can turbo it. It will support 18psi as is, stock internals.

[yoshimitsuspeed]

How much of this work would you be able to do yourself?
If you are doing the entire swap then $5k is a comfy budget for a few options. If you were to pay a shop to do most of the heavy lifting then a 4AGE is probably about the only one that will fall within your budget.

It sounds like reliability and being easy to work on are your priorities.
If that is the case then I would definitely stay 4A and go as close to stock GTS as possible. It doesn't matter what the swap. As soon as a car has a motor that didn't come in it or even custom wiring or anything like that you have to know the vehicle to work on it. If you take one of these swaps to a mechanic 9 out of 10 will turn you away and the 10th will charge you four times that of the same issue on a non swapped car. They should too. You bust open a good FSM and repairs and troubleshooting are relatively easy. Once stuff gets custom it's a nightmare if you aren't personally familiar with it.

I would recommend one of three options depending on your power goals.
The most practical and reliable would be to swap in a stock or refreshed 4A. Preferably a smallport if you can find one. This will give you a good reliable easy to work on motor with a decent bump in power and EFI.
If that's not quite enough you could toss in some cams and high comp pistons to gain another 30 hp for maybe another grand.
If that's not enough then I would throw in some forged not quite as high comp pistons and start planning a turbo build. You could get the motor in and running in that form then work on doing the turbo as a later stage. Or you could do it all at once if you really wanted to.
I am not a fan of the 4AGZE. As mentioned it is the supercharged version. The superchargers are getting old and rarer by the day, they aren't rebuildable, and they are horribly inefficient.
The GZE ECU is archaic and can't handle more than stock boost without considerable time and money.
The only internal difference between a GZE and the later 7 rib NA is the pistons. For a lot less money you could pick up an junk yard 4A and throw some good pistons in it.