Hi and welcome to ToyotaNation! We'd love to see some pictures of your ride, sounds like it's been your family's baby for a while now. =)
As far as going faster, the 2TC is a great little engine. The limit's your budget, really, they handle boost really well and it seems popular to convert them to EFI with aftermarket ECUs but that's a lot of time, skill, and expense. Just for starters, a Weber 32/36 (or 38/38) carb will really wake the 2TC and 3TC engines up, as will headers and exhaust. You can get a header for ~$100 and a Weber kit for ~$300, so that and some basic tuneup stuff can probably get you ~15-20 horsepower back and a LOT better throttle response and an increase in mileage with the 32/36. Doesn't sound like much, but when stock figures were something like 60 horsepower, every pony's precious. This stuff is probably a good first bet before contemplating radical swaps. That said, the bigger 3TC engine (1.8) should bolt right in, no changes needed.
If you have a two or three speed automatic, just converting to a 5-speed will make the car feel and act a lot faster.
