I looked a my 360 in my '96 and it looks like it's the P.S. bracket. If the brackets was tightened down with the bolt out, it may be jamming the bolt. Loosen all of them so the bracket can wiggle. It may go in then.

 

[In My Best Paul Harvey Voice]

”And now…the rest of the story.”

My late father told me when I was growing up, “sometimes when you come across a difficult problem, come back to it later when you can. The solution may end up being quite self-evident”.

So I ignored the problem yesterday afternoon, focusing on replacing the power steering pump (detaching lines, pulley transfer, etc.)

When I looked at the engine, in prep for gearbox replacement, I saw this:

Yup, wrong bolt.

Kieth_L gets the gold star for diagnosing the issue. Makes sense that coolant leaked when trying to tighten up. While I take some solace that the long bolts were the correct sized long bolts for the WP, I still get to wear the dunce cap for a day or so for not realizing that I didn’t pull a long bolt out of that hole - it actual bolt had fallen to the ground just like the long bolt.

Let me life be a lesson to others.

 

Always something. Thanks for sharing..

 

Think we've all been there.
What gearbox did you get?
Hopefully not a rebuilt . . .

 

I like it when others make mistakes like this 'cause then I don't feel so dumb when I do it!

 

I am pretty sure that MOST of us have done things of this nature..... Except me, of course, I never make misteaks.

 

MMMMM steak

 

Sometimes you just have to walk away and do something else for a while. I was putting a new brake wheel cylinder on a truck the other day. Something I've done numerous times since about 1970. I could NOT get that second bolt into it. I had found broken hardware so I put the tools up, made a parts run, ate lunch and bandaged my hand where I missed and hit my hand. (Not necessarily in that order) Came back, a light tap to seat the cylinder and the bolts went right in.