318 LA engine timing cover/oil pan gasket questions

BTW, make sure the hole in the side rails of the pan are flat; it not, support with a small wood block and lightly hammer flat.

Tighten the bolts evenly and go around and around the pan, increasing the torque a little at a time; I tighten every other bolt lightly and then go back around for the other half of the bolts, and keep doing that over and over, just adding a little bit of torque at a time. If you get to the point where the side gaskets start to squeeze out ever so slightly, STOP... that is tight enough.