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Old 09-29-2016, 06:52 PM   #12
bazar01
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ptbowman View Post
Rear subframe mounts:
The biggest challenge we had was that the OEM subframe bushings were absolutely corroded into the body due to 27 years and 150,000 miles of driving in salty environments (first Chicago and then Pittsburgh). On the E30 forums, the general conclusion is that with cars that have never seen salt, are relatively easy to do, while any significant salt exposure can lead to one HORRIBLE job. We fiddled around for nearly 3 days before figuring out how to get them out. I can provide more details if anyone is interested. The fundamental issue is a bad design by BMW: the inner "sleeve" of the bushing is aluminum, while the cavity in the body that the bushing sleeve presses into is steel. When these cars were built, no grease was used when pressing the bushings into the body. Steel + Aluminum+ Salt led to serious galvanic corrosion, where essentially the bushing is "welded" to the body.
ptbowman, I know this is an old post, but can you share how you got the original aluminum sleeve off the steel stud on the rear subframe?

Did you have to spray a lot of PB Blaster to get it unstuck? Did you heat it up with a propane torch?
Let me know if you don't mind.
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