Never had an occasion to make an oil pan gasket before now. Always just bought them

This time I am going to use Permatex Ultra black.

Question is, how to do it exactly. How much sealant to bead up, and.... does it need to be applied all around sides of each bolt hole like a preformed rubber gasket?

It looks like it would be difficult to lay down a bead on the pan without covering the holes.

used the ultra grey when we did the reseal on my motor 2 weeks ago..

 

laid down a good bead (3/8" + or - a little) between bolt holes - a little smaller around bolt holes - making sure everything connected - no gaps anywhere - then just bolted it back on - didnt get real super fussy about it, just tried to keep an even amount all the way around...

 

So far so good, no obvious leaks, oil level is staying up where it should be.

 

good luck with yours.

I just did mine with 3m ultra black. I just put a small bead down in a small area and smeared I with my finger to flatten out the bead. Bolted the pan down on that side, then removed it to see if I had enough or to much. I did this twice. Once I seen the correct amount that is the size bead I used. When I took it off the second time, it was perfect, just fully covered the surface with out any extra oozing outside the gasket surface. May not be the normal way to do it, but I know I have the perfect amount. I did not want to guess and end up with too much sealer and it gitting in the pan. My legacy has been so far 100% leak free.

 

Also, I did put the bead around the bolt holes. The PDF file to the ultra black said to put a bead around the holes.