Just bought what I believe to be a 1987 Toyota pickup. The tab inside the door jamb has a production date stamp of Oct. 1986. VIN indicates the same.
The only reason that I am unsure of the year and the drivetrain is because of the truck's back story from the previous owner. He says that the guy he bought it from told him that he had swapped OUT the V6 that it supposedly came with for the 22R that is currently in there. From the research I've done I don't think that the 1987 pickup was available with a V6. Not sure if the motor mounts on both motors would be the same, but nothing on the frame looks hacked for new mounts. The grille on the truck has the V6 insignia, but that could easily be a junk yard grille. Engine bay tab indicates a G52 transmission. Does that jive with an 87 with a 22R or V6? There seems to be some confusion between the story he got, the story I got, and the truck's drivetrain.

Any thoughts?
Thanks!

 

The V6 started in model year 1988.
According to this, the G52 tranny was only in the 84-85 pickups:

https://core-shifters.com/pages/toyo...identification

 

I'm pretty sure the 3vze and 22r/e motor mounts do not line up without fabrication and modification.

I agree they could have easily thrown a V6 emblem on it. Like you said ot sounds like a couple of mixed up stories. I can't be of much help really, but I'm interested to see what you can figure out!

 

The V6 engine was not available until the 1988 model year.

A quick sanity check:

If the 4th and 5th digits of your VIN are "RN" then the truck originally had a 22R series engine.
If the 4th and 5th digits of your VIN are "VN" than the truck originally had the 3VZ-E.

How original do things look?

Do the frame and engine mounts and welds look factory?

 

Thanks everyone! The 4th and 5th VIN numbers are RN, so I guess that answers that! Engine bay doesn't look hacked or mangled. Everything looks well ordered, mounts and welds look original. There are some dangling wires-to-nowhere which I think are probably the leftovers from when the previous owner swapped out the carb for a weber and went to a header exhaust manifold.
Per https://core-shifters.com/pages/toyo...identification the G52 transmission was not available in this truck. Why would that be stamped on the VIN plate in the engine bay? Doesn't really matter I guess. Just curious.

 

Just how certain are you that your reading that tag correctly.. Perhaps you're looking at the axel code.