A 375k 2003 2wd to Manual SAS build

Hi All,

iv had 2nd gen Tacomas for the last 15 years and am very familiar with working on them but my brother is about to sell his 2003 2wd TRD Tacoma which has 375k miles on it. he is the original owner. Runs pretty good for its age.

I have a pair of Dana 44s with 5.30 gears and RCVs from a 2018 Jeep JL and some 37s that I was planning on putting on my 2014 Tacoma BUT I’m thinking it would be really nice to keep the 2014 mid travel (current set up) and build the 2003.

The 2003 has so many good childhood memories from all the surfing trips and camping so it would really cool to keep it alive.

The question for you all is:
1:Where are some places I should be looking to get a compete 5VZFE

2: Am I gonna screw myself trying to covert it to manual (ECU gonna always have a code and fail California smog or some BS??)

3: Are there any prefab 3 link kits that are noticeably better than others? Making my own is an option but if there is a gold standard that isn’t crazy expensive I’d like to save the time.

thanks!!