What's that rattle?

[njspider]

Not sure this is the correct area for this post but here goes. 1982 with 135K miles. On smooth pavement the car rides great, tracks straight with no shimmy or vibration, handles well. A pleasure to drive. On rough surfaces or over small bumps or large expansion strips there's an annoying rattle. I've checked the exhaust and I can't find anything loose or any indication of something hitting the underside of the car. I've checked under the hood and I see nothing that looks like it could be the cause. Heat shield is intact and tight. It sounds like the noise comes from the cowl area or under the dash on the passenger side. I even thought it might be the window glass rattling in the doors but it's not. Is there problem common to these cars that might cause the rattle?? Thanks

[riverdadd]

i had an under car rattle that turned out to be the linkage for the brake compensator . it is a dog bone shaped piece of steel that had the rubber bushings deteriorate and fall out. it would only rattle when a good bump happened.

[baltobernie]

Perhaps try closing (or opening) the heater/defroster control; maybe the flap is rattling.

[klweimer]

I found the brake pads rattle in their calipers if you don't have the right pad retention springs. I had a set of springs on the pads, but they were for the older style calipers. I'm not sure when they switched over, but I know my '82 uses the newer style. These are the ones I'm talking about:
http://www.midwest-bayless.com/p-2913-b ... n-new.aspx
I actually brought springs from both AR and Bayless. Both worked, but the Bayless ones were easier to install, due to how the tail of the spring was bent. Key tips - only one spring per pad, and the spring should be on the top edge of the pad, not the bottom (otherwise the spring is always trying to push against gravity).
Kirk