I have been chasing this for several years..mainly when it tart to bug me...

Well im getting annoyed again...

My front end
Its a 72 car
74 front strut tubes...the original ones were ovaled out at the ball joint hole...

I have
23mm front torsion bars
21mm sway bar
Bilstein struts.
plastic bushings with grease fittings.

Ok,,,
here is the symptoms.
I hit a bump..it clunks...like something is loose.
I jacked it up,,removed the sway bar...nothing is loose.

I am starting to think that the struts are not sitting all the way into the tube...
when I tighten down the "nut" on top of the strut, it does not thread all the way in...

In recent fixes...
I replaced the strut tubes, brakes, bearings,etc...new rotors and calipers also...had to...
I replaced the bushings...twice now..first ones squeeked...did the zirk fittings..all better..

I found that I had no felt pad over the endo f the torsion bars...so I made a rubber on from four rubber washers...

Im at a loss..
Do other cars clunk...when hitting bumps???
there is nothing loose in the trunk...btdt...
Rich

have you pulled your tank lately? i had the same thing, clunk when going over bumps. when i pulled the tank a few weeks ago, i could see the marking on the bottom where it would hit the swaybar ...

the swaybar "bends" when under load and if it's a tight fit, it'll hit the bottom of the tank. that was my clunk ...

my solution will be to move the tank just a tad higher (using the rubber holddown thinggies) ...

just make sure your fillerneck doesn't hit the hood when closed ...

Andy

let the midget out!

What kind of struts are in the car?

The upper bushing in the Bilstein strut can wear. The insert then "clunks" around a bit

Hmmmmmm...
I have taken it out a few time....never all the way...just propped up for fuel line replacements...

Hmmm, it really could be that...I wonder how far I can raise it up...just to test this out...
And maybe that is they there is carpet on the tank bottom....
the bar is a weltmeister 22mm...so I dont think it bends that much...

The noise is not when I am driving it aggresively, but rather just driving around town...

here is my next set of diagnostics....

Remove one drop link on the bar...see if the noise goes away...if not remove the other, and tape up the ends of the bar so it wont slide...

then...I gues its on to the struts...
Everything else is tight...so I will see if the sway bar is my issue...
If it it hitting the tank...any idea (aside for turn up the stereo) that I could do...is raising the tank all I have, or could I beat a dent into the bottom of it for clearnace....

tim,
Please explain a bit more on that one...
Is there a bushing that fits under the threaded "nut", or is it up at the top "bearing" thing..

Also...what holds my strut from shooting through my hood right now seems to be just the top cover, the dust cover (cylindrical , typical shock top thingy) ..and this rests against the factory strut bearing at the top...am I possibly missing something there....???

Rich

I know somebody knows this

Assembly details with bilsteins...I did this like 6 years ago..I cant remember if its right...I just keep redoing it the same way...

So, strut goes in tube, screw down with special strut retainer (threaded on the outside..) no other parts there..

On top of that goes the round cylindrical cover...and that is it.
This gets pushed down, and interted into the upper strut bearing in the car...no other parts.

On top, in the front trunk is a special washer to align the strut with the rubber, another washer and a nut...crank till tight..

Did I miss some part???

Oh, more data...I just went out for a ride...hit a pothole..small one...the wheel jerked to the right, and the clunk happened...
mind you, good tie rods, good ball joints...
I have checked and rechecked that the steering rack it bolted tight, the cross member is bolted tight...Im at a loss...

Rich

I used to get answers here in minutes...
Am I being ignored by all now...

Please help out a lost 914 guy who cant remember how to put it together....

Rich

I havent read anything about you installing the roll pin at the bottom that holds the shock in the tube.

Most of the stock Bilstein struts (not shocks) are now wearing out the top as TimT suggested above. This is the biggest issue I run across.

The roll pin also breaks and appears to be fine at the bottom sometimes.


B

My guess on the lack of answers is that eveyone's out playing with fire.

I can't add much to the thread, other than look and see if you have anything that would affect bumpsteer. Just a suspension from a '74 on a '72 I wouldn't think would do that...

I'm off to see what all will be blown up around here. The neighbor kids already have a good start on things.

never seen a roll pin..what roll pin...
the old ones (boge) dropped out , oil and all) the new ones came with no pin..so maybe that is the deal...

And this part Tim talks about...is that under the screw in stru cover...or under the top bearing...I could not figure that one out...

But..if I am missing a roll pin...could you describe where it is suppose to be...does it go through the housing and through the bottom of the strut .....

Rich

If it is the pin I am thinking of you would know if it was missing. It attaches the

strutt to the ball joint on the A arm. With out it there would be a hell of a noise.

You havent mentioned what kind of struts are on your car yet...

The Bilstein strut is fat where it comes out of the top of the strut, and is held in place by a roll pin just below the steering knuckle.

The Bilstein is sort of an inverted strut, where the shock body is moving, within a bushing in the upper part of the strut..

This bushing hogs out over time, and "clunking" is a symptom

If you have one of the other types of struts, Koni/Boge the shock housing is retained in the strut tube by a nut on top.

It sounds like you have a bilstien insert for a Koni/Bige strut..... this changes the equation a bit

yes,
I have bilstein inserts...
The body of the strut goes into the stru tube, it has a small dimple protruding from the bottom that fits into the hold in the bottom of the strut tube. I am thinking that possibly that dimple does not go all the way in to the hole in the bottom of the tube, this might hold it up a bit and cause the clunking.

So, this is not inverted, rather it is right side up, shiny shaft sticks out the top of the bilstien and goes up into the front trunk, like a regular shock/strut.

So, no roll pin that I am aware of...Of course the bolt for the ball joint is in place, this is why I changed it all over to the new setup, the old setup had an inferior bolt design, and it ovaled out the hole that the ball joint goes into...

So, im back to square one...
Im gonna play with the sway bar forst to see of that is the issue...it had bushings that may be worn out, where the bar comes out of the body...

Rich

i have a 22mm and it bends enough to hit the tank. also, it's mostly under normal driving, i think my car is just too loud to hear anything under agressive driving, plus, i'm too damm busy to notice when i'm holding on for dear life ...

Andy

that is what i figured...I cant hear it when aggresive driving either...my mind is not listening for it...just making sure the cones get out of the way...and besides, those type of noises I expect when driving aggresive...

Ok, I will disconnect it tonight...see what happens...

Rich

Disconnecting won't necessarily help. A 22mm sway bar is large enough that the tank can sit right on the bar - and you will hear the clunk every time the tank bumps up and down.

The tank is easy to raise a few millimeters. Just run most of the gas out of it (to lighten the weight), loosen the tank strap, and push the rubber spacers on each side of the tank down while lifting on the tank. Just a little is all that is necessary. If the clunking goes away, then the tank was hitting the sway bar. Of course, the tank will settle back down to it's original height over time - so if you want to keep the tank in the raised position, you will probably need to secure the rubber pieces in place (I would glue them to the body of the car).

Demick

Found this when I was looking for something else - see, I do use the search function -

I had the same issue with bilstein inserts in stock boge covers. The bilsteins did not thread in flush. I diagnosed my problem by removing the wheel and pulling sharply on the bilstein. Unfortunately, it made the same clunk as I heard while driving. I removed shock, tightened the insert (still not flush), and re-installed. No more clunk, but I listen for it intently since the insert can still back out.

Dan