[Trump]

I have heard about the casting line before but never seen a picture. It's helpful. Thanks.

I would imagine that the discrepancies between the 1986-1987 years that I keep seeing is probably related to model year of the vehicle versus manufacture year/date of the transmission. One would guess that at some point in 1986 they had to transition into manufacturing the newer style trans for the '87 model year.... maybe? Or maybe they truly didn't start manufacture of the newer version until 1987 and some 1986 manufactured trans crept into the '87 line-up? Of course this last guess would line up with your last statement. Which makes sense.

In hind sight, I should have checked the date code on the engine it was mated to to see if they came from the factory that way. I suppose there is a chance that it was a replacement or rebuilt trans from a trans shop that was installed later into the van. The TC actually had paint pen on it from a local trans shop here in town and it was clear that the TC was either new or a remanufactured unit. The date on the TC was less than a year ago. The case was pretty clean for the most part when I got it as well, so that might hint that this could have been the case....

The mystery continues.