The car is an 89 hatch, Innovative cross frame bar, filled stock mounts, newer axles, lower ball joints, and tie rod ends.

If I accelerate hard it will clunk. If I brake hard it will clunk again.
If I accelerate and make it clunk, the slow down gradually and accelerate again it will not clunk a second time. Same with braking. So it seems to me that something is shifting while launching (or brake) and shifting back during acceleration in the other direction. You can feel the clunk on the driverside floor board.

The car drives perfect and doesn't clunk any other way other then described above. With the car on jackstands everything seems solid and tight.. I really want to find this clunk so I can get the car aligned and go to the track. Thanks

 

Sounds like a bad motor mount.

 

Sure it's not the traction bar? They can work loose just enough to move a little which will make a noise. My K tuned bar on my ef did it and my buddies innovative bar on his ef sedan does it as well. Just go over the mounting bolts and make sure they're tight, then maybe check for any play in the bars.

 

Check the rear engine mount.

 

i would check the filled mounts first.

 

sounds like a lower control arm bushing is gone.

 

I had the same problem 89efhatchy said. I have a Full-Race traction bar and the bolts that attached to my lower control arm were a little loose. I didn't find until I went crazy and tightened every single bolt under my car lol

 

When i first put on my traction bar, i had this issue. The metal helm joints would clunk during hard accel or hard braking. I ended up having the etd bar welded to the frame.

Even if the bolts "seem" nice and tight, i would double check everything on the front end because it might be hard to pinpoint the problem even with the car on jackstands since there isnt a load on the suspension.

 

I would say either rear/front motor mounts, or the traction bar. I had the spot welded nuts on the inside of the frame rail (that your traction bar bolts to, originally for the tow hooks) break loose, and then the bolts were loose or gone. So the traction bar would pivot.

 

I had this issue with my car...

Check for play on your passenger side tierod...if you have play and it feels like an inner joint...it might not be, there is a bushing in the rack that goes bad..i replaced mine..and at the same time went over all the subframe bolts to make sure they are all tight...and i have never heard the sound since...


http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...3sh301_b33.png #10 is the bushing im talking about

 

I agree with the traction bar, my buddys DA did the same thing, he ended up having to weld it to the chassis.

 

make sure your brake calipers are tight on the knuckle to

 

Sounds like a motor mount issue to me.

 

Only reason it does not sound like a mount to me is because it does it when he brakes also. Think about what an engine does when someone brakes hard.....Does not move very much....if at all. But anything is possible of course.

 

I'll bet my left nut that it's the "traction bar".

You're not hearing it clunk the second time because when you accelerate the 'traction bar' bolts have slid and now the shank of the bolt is stopping the assembly from sliding more.

My buddy and I stitch welded our "traction bars" on because of this. It's especially bad to have this issue on an EF as it directly affects the alignment. 4 strategically placed tacks and you'll never hear the noise again. 5 min with a dremel if you ever need to take the bars off. It's a much better idea than over-tightening these bolts because if the internal nut brakes loose you have a MUCH bigger issue. People tend to look at me funny when I recommend stitch welding the traction bar.. it's really not a big deal.

You can use a yellow paint marker from harbour freight and draw a 'witness mark' between the traction bar bolt and the traction bar itself. Next time you hear the noise look at the mark and you'll be able to see how much it moved.

 

Overtightening them and breaking them loose aint that bad. You just cut a hole in the side, and tighten em back up. And at least then the bar is easily removable.

 

I have no problem with cutting holes to access broken parts... I just like to be 110% sure the assembly isn't going to move. For me, cutting off a tack is as easy as turning a wrench.

 

its probably how the traction bar is installed.

 

Thats why I have the Full Race bar. Its bolted on the bottom stock location, and the tow hooks location (EF chassis). Its not moving.

 

^ it's a great design. It's what I would buy if I didn't make my own.

I have my opinions on what the best design is, but I wont get into my other rant about EF "traction bars". Most EF owners only care about who has the cheapest product anyway.

 

sounds like your vtec happy. its happened to me from too much launching was the traction bar

 

I finally got to work on the car today. Sure enough the trackion bar was shifting about an 1/8". Welded it up and it's all good. Thanks guys!

One more question that I didn't get any bites on the main forum.

 

Good to hear you got it fixed!

 

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