VT Underbody Clunk - Fixed... here's how!

I've been racking my brains and annoying the hell out of my mechanic for the past 3 weeks trying to get to the bottom of an intermittent clunking noise coming from under my under my 1999 VT SS 5.0L Manual. I figured that if i could save someone else the time and money its taken me to solve the problem then this is worth posting.....

The noise began to occur after i had the shifter assembly bracket (the one which holds the gearstick and linkages up under the car) replaced. It was an intermittent clunking audible when slowing down to a corner or turning, or any time you changed direction quickly.

Initially I thought the noise originated from the left hand front suspension assembly, 2 days and $300 later after completely removing the strut spring and control arm assembly, re seating the spring, testing the strut and replacing the lower control arm bushes i picked it up........ i got about 300 metres down the road and it clunked again.

Back to the mechanic, we decided after test driving the car that the noise was more likely coming from under the transmission tunnel. All the visible gearbox mount bolts were tight and the crossmember retaining bolts were supertight. no luck I took the car and drove it for two weeks getting more and more annoyed at the clunking.

Finally i booked it in for the third time and asked the mechanic to re check all the gearbox mounts it turns out there are two bolts which hold the gearbox to the mounting bracket.. one of these was completely missing and the other had worked itself out by about half an inch. Replaced the bolts and fixed the noise !!!!!