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I started to remove the Canadian 251 engine from my m37 today and right off the bat got stumped with how to remove the bolts from the front motor mounts. As many of you know, the 251 motor is mounted forward of the normal front motor mounts. The mounting bolts come up from the inside of the "U" shaped front frame cross member and are not "captured." The lock nuts and washers are on the top.
Turning the nuts also turns the bolts. It looks near impossible to get some kind of 3/4" wrench/socket on the head of the bolt to keep it from turning.
Then I suspect the bolt will fall down into the "U" shaped cross member once the nut comes off and the bolt will be lost forever.
Any ideas here?
JB

when I removed the engine / tranny/ rad combo from my canadian m37 I just used a socket from underneath the front crossmember and up into the holes under the bolts. Terry

Not knowing more than what the engine removal owner is desribing, I would use that trusty remove all tool: the cutting torch ! Safeguarding fuel line proximity , of course.

Terry:
Thanks for your answer. There are some holes on the under-side of
the cross member but they are so far off set forward that I cannot get the
3/4" socket on the head of the bolt. The whole thing seems bizarre to me.
How the heck were the bolts ever first installed?
Looks like I'll have to drill holes directly under the area of the bolts heads.
The "fire ax" idea isn't all bad either. Maybe I can make some kind
of home made socket extension with just the right bend in it.
I don't mind doing this but still drives me crazy on how they were first installed.
Thanks,
Jerry

I believe the nuts were welded inside the crossmember. Yours are probably rusted or broken by the prevous owner. They were fixed solidly in my crossmember. I'm sure Charles can step in and let us know.

Larry: You may be right about the "original" bolts/nuts being somehow welded or "captured" in place inside the crossmember. On my m37 the bolts protrude up through the crossmember with the nuts through the top of the motor mounts. (???) Must be a jury-rig deal. The bolts spin in place.
Can Charles spread more light on this subject????
Jerry

There should be threads in the holes with bolts run in from the top side. This could have been altered for many reasons, most likely stripped threads or captive nuts broken loose.

You might can use a universal socket to come up with the correct angle for accessing through a bottom hole. Possibly a socket on a wobble extension might provide enough offset also.

Just a thought, here. It will involve some work, but it might save you some hassle in the long run. Since the bolts turn in the holes, there are obviously no threads to worry about. What I'd do is cut the nuts off the existing bolts with a torch (or chisel if you don't have a torch), drop the bolts down through the upper holes, and fish them out through the lower holes. Then, going down through the top holes with the smallest bit you can find that will reach that far, drill holes in the bottom part so that they are directly below the upper holes. Once you have managed this task, you will be able to use successively larger bits to ream them out enough to get your socket through them. Then, throw away the old bolts and install new ones. Problem cured forever.

Thanks for the tips from Charles and Lifer.
I'll try the 3/4" socket with a universal joint and/or a wobble. Might just work. Short of that.... I'll take Lifer's route and use the "fire ax" to remove the nuts on top. Will make "spotting" the new holes a lot easier
and like you said, will make for a permanent fix.
Thankyou all.....
Jerry