All the 1/4" fastners on a the front plate are threaded into the engine plate, which at best on has a couple of threads. The bottom have caused nightmares for many a A-series owner, and caused more than a few leaks in this area.
A old racer's trick is to take a 1/4-28 jam nylock nut and grind it flat on on one side to take a few of the hex points off, so it doesn't interfere with the oil pan, then hold up against the backside of the engine plate with needle nose pliers to get it started as the bolt threads into it, once it is positioned up against the back side of the engine plate you can now hold on to it with a open end wrench as you tighted the bolt, now you extra threads in this area to hold the plate secure. Hope this helps.
A tip on grinding the flats of jam nylock, first hold on to it with vise grips, it can get away from you with normal pliers and turn into a dangerous projectile, then take baby steps with the grinding, keep a cup of water near for cooling , if you get the nut too hot it will melt the nylon in the nut rendering it useless, so baby steps and keep it cooled down.
On the other 1/4" fastner on the engine front plate you can simply add a nut to the back side of the plate, the one nearest the water pump is tight, but a jam nut will work there, just make sure you don't bottom out on the front of the block on this one.
Oh and Richard, put your torque wrench away on this one, that's probably what got you in trouble to start with, anything with that less of a torque should be done by hand, it's real easy to blow past a torque with such a low setting, with fastners like this it becomes a "touch and feel" deal, we builders call it GAS spec (good and snug) /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
I developed hand techniques like many everyday wrench turners over the years, for me it's all about the "feel", I nomally choke up the wrench handle on small fastners like this, and even use just a couple of fingers rather than my whole hand because even with a 7/16" wench and it's length it's real easy to use the length and leverage of the wrench to overtighten and strip. For a weekend car guy, these little nitches are the hardest to learn, it's like using a mic it all about feel and that can not be taught, just learned through continued experience. Good luck, hope this helps.
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