[07ImolaRot]

So I did a lot of searching on the forums and people said dry U joints on the steering wheel intermediate shaft and loose bolts on the firewall braces can make noises. I WD40 the U joints and torqued all strut tower brace bolts to 35lbs and the noise completely went away. I don't think it was the U joints that were making the noise but I did wash the engine bay with simple green several times recently. I think it was the strut tower bolts that got loose after I put on the E46 M3 strut braces a couple thousand miles ago. The excess force probably made some of them loose. Its amazing to me how much of a loud clunking noise those firewall braces can make. It sounded like cracked metal hitting each other. I was convinced something had cracked.

Thanks for the help everyone !