Upper Trans To Engine Mounting Bolts. How Do You Remove Them?

[GrayES300]

Been gone for a while. My car is a 2001 ES300. Had issues with my U140E trans no longer going in overdrive. After trying to fix it, gave up and parked the car for over a year. Now I have bought a used one from a junkyard and I am currently trying to remove the old trans. It has been a nightmare of a project. Broken bolts, had to cut off my stabilizer bar links because the nuts were rusted to them and the passenger side axle is frozen in the axle bearing housing.

I'm at the point now where I am ready to remove the old trans. Just got the front brace removed. I cannot figure out how to get at the upper trans to engine mount bolts. Service manual does not help. Only tells me to remove the bolts.

Pics attached to show the area on my car as well as on my new trans. Anyone done this before? I tried to reach them from under the car, but that did not work. Is there something that will come off easily on the top of the engine to make this easier? Any help is appreciated!

[GrayES300]

Finally got the bolts out. Ended up removing the two water hoses that are in that area, removed the throttle body and a couple of lines on it so I could pull it out of the way and the nut on a stud holding the wire harness on the engine. Of course when I removed the throttle body, the bolt that holds the bracket to it broke.

After all of that, I used a 1/2" drive breaker bar with a 1/2" to 3/8" reducer and a standard 17mm socket. That combo made the length perfect to fit in the pocket where the bolts were. Still was a huge pain. After breaking loose the bolt, I switched to a swivel head socket wrench to speed up removal. You can only remove it so much. If you go too far, you will not be able to get the socket back off. Finished removal with a box end wrench.

Now that all the bolts are removed, still trying to get the trans and engine separated. i think the dowel pins are corroded holding it together. Going to try thin scrapers at the seam between the two and move up to a chisel & pry bar to get them apart.