My 87 Toyota with a 5 speed started making a knocking noise and it sounds like its coming out of the transmission. It only does it in gears 1-2-3-5 not 4th and its when i let of the gas and coast in gear if i push in the clutch or put it in nutreal it doesnt do it.
my buddy's did the same thing but it was more like a buzzing than a knock. it was the driveline. i can't remember if it was at the carrier bearing or right at the back of the tranny. hope that gives you somewhere to start looking...
good luck
my 92 does that too. sometimes its a grinding-ish sound, sometimes more of a buzzing. i just did u-joints and flushed my axle fluid. that helped quite a bit. but i have quite a bit of slop in the back of the tranny itself. i have like 200k on my though. might wanna talk to some tranny shops or get lookin for a new one. mine also doesnt wanna gate into 1st or 2nd sometimes too. and R (the gear for racing).