Oil Leaking From oil pan front section by timing cover

[clinem03]

I just removed, restored and reinstalled the OE oil pan in my 76 with stock 302. There appears to be oil leaking out from the front two corners and under the timing chain cover (new one, with a new timing chain 500 miles ago) where the pan connects/lines up. I have a single piece fel-pro gasket in there. I cleaned everything up and installed the gasket and pan when everything was dry.

Should I have used RTV on those front corners and where it means the TC cover?

 

[blubuckaroo]

Should I have used RTV on those front corners and where it means the TC cover?

Always, buy only in the corners.

Are you sure it's leaking from the cover, and not from the seal?
I've seen the seal get distorted and leak. There are no alignment dowles for that cover, so the cover has to be aligned with the harmonic balancer before tightening the cover bolts.

 

[clinem03]

Always, buy only in the corners.

Are you sure it's leaking from the cover, and not from the seal?
I've seen the seal get distorted and leak. There are no alignment dowles for that cover, so the cover has to be aligned with the harmonic balancer before tightening the cover bolts.

On the flat part of the seal, that had dowels it was perfectly aligned. I did my best to get it aligned at the balancer but there is a chance it wasn't perfect. The leak appears to be coming from the corners and from the 'hum' where the pan meets the lower side of the TC cover. There is also a bit of oil 'pooling' up on the bolt heads towards the front. Hard to tell if its spitting out and pooling up or what. All the bolts are snug, not overtightened .

 

[blubuckaroo]

At this point, maybe it would be easier to drop the pan a bit and apply some sealant to the corners where the timing cover meets the pan.