Vintage 140 front suspension noise

Since completing the resto on the 142 years ago, I have been chasing a 'groink' noise in the front suspension. It occurs most prominently when you first apply the brakes coming to a stop when the suspension compresses and at the last moment when you release the brakes and the suspension rebounds. The more significant the weight transfer (and compression) the louder the groink. The bounce test on the fenders generates a tiny amount of squeak, definitely no clanks or rattles so nothing is obviously loose. I have sprayed all the bushings with silicone grease in an attempt to identify the source of the noise (removed and lubed the ASB bushings). None of this has yielded the source of the noise.

In the front suspension, the original design has a plastic / rubber spacer that sits at the top (or bottom depending on which reference you use) of the front spring. The original part number was 675079. My original spacers were toast and replacements for 675079 were unavailable when I did the resto. Advice I received was that they were not really necessary so it went together without any spacers. I later found out that the part is still available; but, under a new part number 683266.

I am curious as to whether anybody has deleted these spacers and developed similar noises from the front end?. Conversely, have they replaced the spacers to eliminate a noise? They are directly available from Volvo and fairly cheap so I would consider putting them in if it might eliminated the noise. However, if this has a low probability of being the source of the noise I am disinclined to do this. Separating the A arms and removing the springs is not technically hard; but, it is a fair amount of grunt work. I am at the age where I am disinclined to do a lot of grunt work unless I have a reasonable expectation of a positive outcome.

Any other observations as to where my noise might be originating? I am pretty confident that it is not the brakes..

683266 is a plastic spacer that goes on the forward lower control arm bushing. It's used in conjunction with a rubber washer. I'm not sure of it's purpose other than to make the bushing look "normal" because the forward bushing is installed backwards compared to most control arm bushings. The plastic spacer fits on the metal outer shell of the bushing and provides support for the large rubber washer that goes over the inner sleeve. The outer cup washer on the pivot bolt goes against the rubber washer. That said, I don't think it has anything to do with your noise unless the LCA pivot bolt(s) are loose.







The missing rubber spacer that goes on top of the spring is most likely the source of the noise but I would check the upper control arm bushings first. The nuts may have come loose allowing the inner sleeve to twist on the cross shaft or one or more of the rubber bushings may have worn away enough to allow the outer shell to rub the inner sleeve.

A stethoscope or a length of hose held to your ear would help to isolate the source of the noise.

Thanks for the info on my incorrect part numbers. Since the 675079 part number seems to be out of production, that does raise the question as to whether there is an OEM / aftermarket replacement or do I just fabricate my own spacer from some rubber sheet? If using sheet rubber is the solution, any guidance on how thick and a suitable product / hardness?

I will have a closer look at the upper control arm bushings. The bushings were new when I did the resto on the car and they only have around 6000 km on them. However, considering that the new idler arm bushing packed it in rather quickly perhaps the bushings are the problem. The noise has been present pretty much from after the rebuild so perhaps there was an assembly problem of some sort.

I don't remember rubber washers under the cup on the LCA. I will have a closer look at that forward bushing to see if something is amiss (or missed).

Thanks for the guidance.

It's common for the rubber washers on the LCA to be missing. They get oil soaked, split and fall off.

Make sure all the control arm pivot bolts/nuts are tight. The inner sleeve on the bushings should not move. It's important to tighten them with the suspension loaded.

I pulled a cross member from a '71 142E out of the JY and it has the rubber spacers. LMK if you need them.

I have almost nothing to add to hiperfauto's thorough analysis above, but what I do have is this: Are you sure the mounting bolts for the crossmember are tight?

Harry Tuttle said:

I have almost nothing to add to hiperfauto's thorough analysis above, but what I do have is this: Are you sure the mounting bolts for the crossmember are tight?

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Yes and no!

Early on when I was chasing the source of front end noises I discovered that the 4 bolts holding the cross member in place were loose. Tightening them up changed; but, did not eliminate all the front end noise. I also discovered that the replacement bolts that had been used on the upper A arm mounts (the ones that clamp the alignment shims) were about 1/4" too long which caused them to bottom out allowing a tiny amount of movement. So fixed that problem also.

Last year my oil pump required replacement so I went through the lower the crossmember / raise the engine process to replace the pump. I am pretty sure that I tightened up the crossmember (having already experienced a loose crossmember); but, if there is some under laying problem they could have come loose again. When I get around to checking the lower A arm I will check those bolts.

When you put the crossmember back in position. Did you put a very thin layer of grease on the mating surface? It may be that the car is twisting and moving around a bit and some grease there would quiet up that sneaky noise.

dl242gt said:

When you put the crossmember back in position. Did you put a very thin layer of grease on the mating surface? It may be that the car is twisting and moving around a bit and some grease there would quiet up that sneaky noise.

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No, I might try some anti seize on the surface; but, if the body is moving relative to the crossmember mounting I would think I have other, bigger problems. The noise is only really noticeable during moderately hard braking. It may be present when cornering; but, is not noticeable.

A little exploratory work revealed that the spring cushions from '70s - 80s GM products (about a couple hundred models) are 5.6" OD , 3.8" ID. The OD is a bit bigger than the springs so it may require trimming to fit. They are on order so we will see if that remedies the problem.