I put all my bolts into the bolt bucket. Put it all back together, an invariably some of bolts have gone to where all my left socks, guitar picks, and underpants go.

Seems like GM used several different, nearly identically-sized torx bolts with different size threads on the front of my motor.

So I can get enough bolts in that I'm comfortable with the brackets being sturdy. These pot metal brackets are so weak on their own that I'm not really worried about the bolts.

But my question is... which, if any, bolt holes on the front of the motor go through to the water jacket? I cant remember if any of them do, but I remembered something vague about an easy to miss bolt (maybe plug?) on the front of the motor that can cause some headaches to the distracted home mechanic, so I wanted to get a heads up on here if possible. If they all go through the water jacket then I suppose I'll need to go see about filling them with a bolt... But Im thinking I might be being a little paranoid.

And here's a picture to keep everyone amused.

 

The only ones that I ever smear are the 2 bottom ones on both brackets.

 

That's a shame, because that's what I' mmissing... one of the bottom ones on each side.... meh. I guess I'll need to run to the hardware store and figure out exactly what the threads are for those.

 

Only the water pump bolts have water behind them. The 2 big ones at the bottoms of the (stock serpentine belt) brackets are 7/16-14, I believe. Everything else is 3/8-16.

 

Were there any studs involved when disassembling your accessory brackets?
I went through the same thing during reassembly; 2 or 3 studs with reverse Torx ends got filed away seperately from the Torx bolts.

 

I think I have al the bolts needed and can mail them to you.