Oil pan gasket - did I screw this up?

[smitty77]

After much meticulous work replacing the rear main seal, today was spent putting the timing cover and oil pan back on.  I bought a new timing cover since the other one had a warped face and was hacked at the bottom (must haven been to fix the leak once, without dropping the pan), and a brand new FelPro rubber one-piece gasket.  I also bought The Right Stuff and some 3M "yellow snot" weatherstrip adhesive as Vile had suggested using in a number of threads.  I must have read up on how to do this about 5 times.  Armed with knowledge, my 7 year old son and I spent the afternoon tackling this.  Getting the pan bolts to grab with the thicker gasket was a PITA, which would have been made easier if I actually looked in the bottom of the gasket box and found the new, longer bolts.  Doh!  It was then that I read the instructions.  Double doh!

According to the instructions from FelPro, the gasket is meant to be installed dry with no chemical adhesives.  Did I just screw myself out of $30 and an afternoon of wasted time, or should I be okay?  I'd hate to put the motor in the truck and find it leaks a year from now when I start actually driving it.

Funny thing is I've been really good at reading all of the stuff that comes with new parts to make sure I do as directed.  Missed this one though......

[joesgarage71]

Naw you should be fine. Even though we all make mistakes and have to do things over sometimes.
 Just like I installed the motor in old rusty yesterday and I forgot to install the clutch fork in the bellhousing, OOPs I'll get her next weekend.

[VileZambonie]

Just make sure you put some RTV in the corners and a small bead along the front and rear of the pan. Once you install all of the bolts torque them 3 times. AS long as the gasket is in the correct position you're good and leak free.

[smitty77]

Just make sure you put some RTV in the corners and a small bead along the front and rear of the pan. Once you install all of the bolts torque them 3 times. AS long as the gasket is in the correct position you're good and leak free.

Then I should be okay.  I'm guessing the gasket is in the right spot as all of the bolts lined up perfectly.  I didn't have to fiddle with any to get them going straight.  I think I torqued them 2x around the pan initially, then again 10 minutes later, and one last time after that.  I didn't get but a 1/16 of a turn on the wrench before it clicked on the last go-'round, so I think they're good.

I was mostly concerned with the disclaimer on the instruction sheet that it needed to be a dry installation, yet they did mention some RTV in the corners.  Let's hope!

And amazingly I thought it would be the rear main seal giving me fits.  That one went in rather easy, IMO.

[VileZambonie]

Yeah the old sbc and bbc oil pan gaskets are a joke. It's a terrible design and you learn after doing it wrong a few times how to make them NEVER leak again lol.

As far as dry installation this is true. RTV sandwiches are usually a no no but in a few cases you either add some booger snot or you're going to deal with leaks. The pan sealing flanges are the worst parts.