I have a similar sounding noise in my 90 westy, although not as bad as yours.� When I sit in the back seat it seems to eminate from above the wardrobe closet and only when traveling over rough or uneven pavement.� It's not coming from the closet.� I have been�thinking it might be the poptop itself or the poptop hinge, but there was no loose play when I inspected that hinge with the poptop raised.�� 

________________________________
From: pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@GMAIL.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Sent: Mon, June 14, 2010 11:05:48 AM
Subject: Re: Sound Recording of my Mystery Noise

Let me add, for people who didn't see the earlier emails, that, in spite of
the fact that this sounds like a loose interior part rattling around, it
seems to be coming from behind the bench seat (or underneath the bottom of
it?)� I have been driven around with me in the back of the van going through
the interior, and with the engine compartment open.� The noise isn't
accessible from the interior and isn't coming from the top of the engine
compartment.� In fact, it was harder to hear with the engine compartment
open because it didn't get much louder.

On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 2:00 PM, pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@gmail.com>wrote:

> I made a recording of my mystery noise.
>
> Just to recap the facts:
> 83 1.9l manual
> Did the pilot bearing a few weeks ago.� This doesn't seem like a mechanical
> noise that could be related but this should probably be mentioned anyways.
> For good measure, let me also state that we recently painted the poptop.
>
> The noise never occurs when you rev the engine at an idle.
>
> It also seems to not have a periodic nature, and doesn't seem to change
> based on engine or wheel speed.
> For this reason, I believe I can rule out CV joints, wheel bearings, etc.
>
>
> (As a reference, almost all the times you hear the sound in the recording,
> the van is accelerating.)
>
> the recording is high quality, but I recommend headphones.� Speakers,
> especially laptop speakers, won't be nearly as useful.
>
> I would REALLY appreciate any suggestions.... I'm going to go crazy here
> pretty soon!
>
> Noise is at http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~wes/vanpics/sample.mp3<http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/%7Ewes/vanpics/sample.mp3>
>
>
> Thanks!!!!!
> Wes
>