The car makes metallic popping noises from the left front. The struts/springs are good, have both been recently replaced without stopping the popping noises. From a stand-still, if you hit the accelerator just a little, when the car starts to roll, it makes a pop sound or two. When you are rolling and let off the gas, it will also make a pop. If you just push down on the front of car and release, letting it come back up....no matter how hard you do it....there is no noise. Seems to be a fore/aft thing, not up/down, on the suspension.
I found that the left stabilizer bar mount bolts won't tighten up all the way. So I tried to remove the mount bolts....they won't UN-screw either. So apparently this nut plate that is supposed to be welded in place is spinning, and of course there is no access to the nutplate, as it is inside of a hollow chassis part cavity. Both ends of the stabilizer where it connects to the lower control arms are OK, not loose. I have a suspicion that the mount is moving very slightly fore and aft causing the popping sounds...it drives me up the wall as it sounds like something major is wrong. If I have the mount arc-welded to secure it, then I cannot replace the mount rubber, which doesn't look too good. Migh be possible to arc-weld it....ox-acetylene torch would surely melt the rubber. I depend on this car, so I don't want to die-grind the heads off, replace the rubber, and then find that I am foo-barred...maybe it is not driveable with the stabilizer mount not bolted on at all? Any ideas what can be done about it? (no, the junkyard is not an option right now! ;-)