The first task was to drill the head off of the bolt. This is the right side strut mount block bolt
The fuselage is rotated 90 degrees clockwise

After the bolt head was drilled off I tried to punch the bolt out the aft side but it still wouldn't budge
so I heated the moount block up with a torch and sprayed some PB blaster in
Finally it let loose but due to the lower cowl skin the angle of my drift wouldn't allow me to knock it completely out

I had a plan to make some cut-outs on the lower boot cowl skins to allow the insertion of the new bolts but found that the bolts
will go in okay from the rear. Maybe there was some logic to the way this was put together - I mean, obviously
even if the lock tab on the bolt head were to fail and the lock nut were to somehow come completely off....
well, the bolt couldn't possibly come out enough to allow the lift strut to depart the airplane
But I don't think that scenario has ever occurred and they'll probably be just fine installed from the rear

But there was still that stuck bolt and the damage it had caused to the boot cowl skin when someone had
previously tried to pound it out forward. So I decided to cut the access hole on the right side
This is just the rough cut - I'll shape it and make a perfect flush plug patch for it
unfortunately I'll have to work with the hole pattern that the previous mechanic made for his doubler

Now I have access to knock that bolt out the rest of the way

Hee hee, a perfect fit. I got you now sucker

Success, the strut mount block and bolt are removed

Using the bolt gauge I measure and list all of the hardware I'll need to order for the wheels, gear and strut mounts

Next hard job - clean up the bilge area

and get rid of the rest of that blue paint - I've gotten most of it off

Time to wash up and twist the top off of that well deserved, ice cold brewski!