Well, in a way I did I used the holes to spray in the penetrant! Not much else you can do on top side because the "nut" is integral part of the bracket.

I applied some heat on passenger side buffer support bolt, hammered the cup washer out of the way and used vice-grips on the knurled head of the bolt. It actually came out quite easily.

I have a shop that is going to quote me on the weld repair. They haven't looked at it yet, but if the heavier metal is too rusted for a weld repair, then we could do as another owner did, and make a new bracket. Don't know if those brackets are available anywhere (Right one below is the MB one that he cut off other side) Looked it up on epc and the brackets (item 71) are shown. There is another part called reinforcement for rear torsion bar bearing (2 reqd). Would that be the beefed up metal that the torsion bar bushing clamps to? Seems good still on my car.

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5