Oil pan gasket tips?

I bought the silicone gasket from "Real Gaskets of TN". Cost ~$35 but should last forever and re-usable. Since you don't torque the bolts much, I used red thread-lock on each. I first torqued it down, then removed each bolt and added thread-lock since you don't have much time before it sets. Clean all oil from the tapped holes first with a Q-tip and gasoline, then ethanol.

You don't need to remove the engine from the car. Unbolt the steering crosslink (at Pitman arm and idle arm, recall) and slide it back. Unbolt each motor mount in turn, jack up and stuff a 2x4 block between mount and K-frame to hold it up (1.5" or so). Perhaps only need that on the R mount (forget). That gives room to slide the pan back past the K-frame. Might help to have the crankshaft at a certain clocking. Once the pan is off, you might be able to tell if a certain clocking gets the front crank arms out of the way so you don't even have to jack up the engine. One trick I found is you can put a 1/2" steel rod ~2 ft long thru the triangle opening in the K-frame to set in a corner at the right front of the block (my 1964) to lift up the engine with a floor jack. You need two of those steel rods to replace a garage-door torsion spring (why I had them).

I recall the silicone gasket goes all the way around, under the timing cover. If you later have to remove the timing cover, you probably won't need to do the trick of cutting a cork or rubber pan gasket and using the stub gaskets, rather just clean the silicone gasket. I think you would need to loosen all the oil pan bolts to remove the timing cover.

While in-there, consider changing the rear crankshaft seal. Check that rear main bearing for wear during that. Can also remove a few rod ends to check the bearings for wear. Generally, if they still show the silvery outer layer they are still fine. If you see other colors like copper, they are worn. Might also see tracks from hard particles. Can be replaced from below to like-new if the crankshaft surfaces aren't worn.