I know exactly what the sound is, and it is relatively easy and cheap to fix. The crunching noise comes from either the right or left side, or both, and from just in front of the firewall near the left or right quarter. This crunch is from dried out/old rubber bushings for the front sway bar. The left one is under the brake booster, the right one under the battery tray. Buy new ones and coat the inside with silicone grease before installing. the right one is easy to get at by simply removing the battery and tray...do this one first to see how the old comes out and new goes in....self apparent. The left one is more of a challenge because it is hard to get in there under the brake booster....to do mine I unbolted the booster from the fire wall and pushed it forward a bit (without disconnecting the brake lines) to give better access. Put these in and the crunch goes away for another 15 years!! Make sure you use silicone grease on them, not petroleum grease. To remove, take off the metal bracket, and slide off the bushing...there is a split in the bushing so it can slide onto the side of the bar...i.e. you dont need to slide it over the tip of the sway bar. Once in position, just re-install the metal bracket.

Good Luck,

Mark

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1984 300TD Wagon, 407,800 mi (current daily driver)
1985 300DT Sedan, 330,000 mi (gone to that great autobahn in the sky)