Hello eveyone,

I have a 1982 pontiac firebird s/e with the 305, edelbrock manifold, edelbrock carb, kyb socks, and a whole bunch of other neat stuff. I recently just did the front end of the car and put brand new inner tie rods, outer tie rods, new drag link, idler arm, and I got a new fast ration steering box. About 6 months before doing this front end work I have been hearing a noise comming from the front left side every time I hit a bump. It sounds like METAL ON METAL contact. I can not figure out what it is. The sway bar endlinks are fine, everything is tight and almost the whole front end components are new. Has ANYONE else had this problem, can you guys figure out the problem. I have brought it to sears service center, and they didn't know. Its so annoying and quite embarassing. I drive a nice looking car, but the noise just kills it. Thanks for the help.

 

my car did the same thing. I found out later that i didn't tighten down my struts to the strut tower. i tighten it down and the problem went away

 

Open the hood, have somebody jump up and down on the strut tower or some similar part of the car and make it make the noise, while you look around for it.

 

Do you know if the previous owner replaced the springs? Maybe forgot the insulator or maybe its fallen apart.

Yes...first thing though would be to check the strut towers, like mentioned previously.

Also, check to make sure the struts are firmly bolted to the spindle. I've had mine come loose a few times from bumpy driving.

Basically....check every bolt!

 

hey thanks guys,

I never thought of checking the strut towers. I recently did put in new struts and shocks and have not checked the bolts since then. I should also probably check the spring insulators because I am sure they are shot. But I will get new ones soon, hotchkis lowering springs are on the way. Thanks for the help.

 

My car had the same type of thing happen to it. A small piece of the coil spring broke off and got stuck inbetween the spring and the arm.

 

i've had the same problem, and it turned out that one of my sway bar bushings worked its way out of the mounting bracket...

 

i had the same thing happen on my 82 camaro, turns out it was simply the top caliper bushing. It had worked it's way loose and when i took the caliper off to clean it up a bit, the bushing came out and i didn't notice it. 3 bucks and 15 minutes later, she was quiet again. Then, my fiance bought a Pontiac Grand Prix from a used car lot, and it had the EXACT same noise, so i thought, "what the hell, why not?" checked it out and Lo! that was the problem.

 

If you tightened it to spec, you must have been doing some rough driving to work it loose.