Good Afternoon - hope everyone is doing well today! I have two questions where I'm looking for opinions/best practice recommendations:
(1) For the 8BA oil pan gasket, should I "sandwich" the strip gasket between the rope seal halves in the front and rear, or cut it to meet the rope seal(s) and apply an RTV type sealant at the juncture? (2) My truck did not have the aluminum dust seal assembly between the starter plate and oil pan, is this something I should consider replacing? Thoughts anyone? Thanks so much!

 

1. No, butt them up and use a dab of RTV.
2. Do you have a truck oil pan with the cleanout? That is the only one that will work with the dust seal, AFAIK. If you have a truck pan, I'd get one with the two long bolts that mount it. (They replace the two bolts in the oil pan that straddle the rear seal)

 

Thanks so much for the quick reply - I finally sealed the pan assembly and used your recommendation at the rear-main seal ... cut the pan gasket to meet the rope seal, then applied a dab of blue RTV to either side of the gasket on both ends. For the front, I got creative: the Best gasket was very wide and allowed me to cut a "U" shape out of it to go around the front rope and straddle it on either side. I again applied a small amount of RTV ... tossed the pan on ... and am now praying it will seal! Thanks again!