Metallic clinking noise somewhere in the chassis or suspension

[MaximRecoil]

1969 Charger, 318 automatic.

The sound seems to be coming from somewhere in the area beneath the front passenger floorboard. I can make a single instance of the clink happen any time simply by pressing the brake pedal while moving forward at any speed, even inching forward. It doesn't make the sound when applying the brake while in reverse or stationary. It also makes the sound when driving over rough roads, a clink for each bump, resulting in a rapid series of clinks, regardless of whether the brakes are being applied or not.

For the sake of the process of elimination, I disconnected the driveshaft and rolled down a hill with the engine off, and it still made the sound. That eliminates any internal moving parts in the engine and transmission, as well as the U-joints, from being the source of the sound. I inspected the front (drum) brakes (which are all new), and those seem to be in order. The ball joints and wheel bearings seem fine, and are greased. The front end seems tight when you jack it up and try to move the front wheels side-to-side and up and down (like they do for state-mandated vehicle safety inspections). It has been on a lift to check underneath for the source of the sound, and we couldn't find it (the motor mounts and transmission mounts seemed fine).

I know it is hard to diagnose something like this over the internet, but does anyone have any ideas at all? 

[Cooter]

Try looking at the front Strut Rod bushings. (The bars going to the front of the K member). If ok, I'd then look for worn shock bushings, lower control arm bushings, upper control arm bushings, etc.

[bobs66440]

I know it sounds weird, but check inside the frame rail (floor support) under the passenger's side. There's a couple of big holes on that channel that something like a stone could have entered and is now rolling around. Maybe even a tool, like a socket.  

(I also read in Classic Car (I think) that guys on the assembly line sometimes would purposely put items (like soda bottles/cans)  in inaccessible parts inside the body panels that would rattle around and drive the guys later in the line crazy looking for it. They would have to take half the car apart to find it. Not saying that's it, but just an interesting side fact. Carry on.  )

[MaximRecoil]

Try looking at the front Strut Rod bushings. (The bars going to the front of the K member). If ok, I'd then look for worn shock bushings, lower control arm bushings, upper control arm bushings, etc.

I suspect it might be a bushing, it is just that when you try to wiggle parts manually with the vehicle jacked up or on a lift, you can't hear anything, and they all seem tight. Either way, are complete front-end bushing kits available? I would like to have them on hand in case I find a bad one (or maybe just replace all of them at once).

[charger Downunder]

I have the same noise and only got it when i installed those so called new improved two piece front strut rod bushes and its only coming from one side i am just putting up with it right now until i get the time to put in the stock set up in on both sides.These two peace bushes have been a problem i replaced one as it cracked through the metal part of the bush.

[MSRacing89]

Its been mentioned, but Lower control arm bushings are the first place I look when I get start to here clunking in the front end.

[MaximRecoil]

I don't know what the specific source of the noise was because we took the "shotgun approach" to fixing it, i.e. we replaced the upper and lower control arm bushings, the strut rod bushings, the stabilizer links, bump stops, and the front shocks with new parts from Moog (bushings and stabilizer link kits) and Monroe (shocks and their bushings).

One of the passenger-side upper control arm bushings was pounded out pretty hard (the inner metal sleeve was contacting the outer metal sleeve), the passenger-side front shock was non-functional (you could slide it up and down with zero resistance), and both of the cone-shaped upper control arm bump stops were pretty much nonexistent. The rest of the bushings were in the typical dry-rotted state that you would expect of 42-year-old rubber bushings.

In any event, the noise is gone now, and the car feels a lot safer to drive.

[charger2fast4u]

Good thing you fixed the noise I'm having a similar problem with a clunking noise sounds like its at  the passenger side front wheel happens usually while turning  going over bumps I was suspecting the control arm bushings any way to positivly identify worn bushings?

[MaximRecoil]

any way to positivly identify worn bushings?

I don't know. We had my car on the lift a couple of different times searching for the source of the noise; using a prybar to move everything every which way, but there was no obvious source of the noise. We could tell by looking that the bushings had long since seen better days, but there is no way to really see inside the bushings without tearing the front suspension apart. If your bushings are original then they are 42-year-old rubber and should probably be replaced anyway.