Dave,

Based on the sound and conditions you describe, it sounds like a CV
joint to me too.
I would be more convinced if you said it was coming from the rear.

I had almost exactly the symptoms you describe but was able to
additionally identify the noise to be coming from the driver's side
rear wheel area.  I pulled that driveshaft and dissasembled the CV
joints.  Both looked pretty worn.  I only had one new CV joint in my
possession at the time so I gambled and replaced the outer CV joint
which was marginally worse and just repacked and rebooted the inner
joint.  The noise went away so it was a good guess.  Since then I've
replaced the three remaining CV joints as preventative maintenance
(this Westy has 168K on her).

If you plan to do the work yourself and don't already know the whole
procedure, I'd recommend Tom Carrington's website:
http://volksweb.relitech.com/cvjoints.htm

Good luck,
Scott T.
'85 Westy "Pearl"
Santa Barbara, CA

>My 82 has developed a strange tapping thumping sound that only happens when
>going around curves at low speeds and seems to go away after driving a bit.
>  The sound seems to be related to the tires turning as it is very regular
>and isn't engine rpm sensitive.  I've been trying to see if it only happens
>with power on or off but it usually only last a short bit and I haven't
>found a spot to do wide slow turns continuously to try and test things.  I
>replaced the brake pads about three weeks ago and this started about a week
>ago.   Any ideas?
>
>Thanks,
>Dave