For those of you following at home, this is Phase 2 of my project to find and fix the leak.
This morning, the first thing I did was to jack the engine up about an inch off the front motor mount. This was a good thing for more than one reason. I found out that one of the motor mount bolts (carriage bolt head seen in previous photos) was cross threaded. So both of these bolts will be replaced. I wonder if my local, old fashioned, hardware store where I can buy one bolt at a time, sells a Grade 8 carriage bolt, instead of just the normal carriage bolt?
Here is a photo of the engine lifted up an inch.
The next step was to let the engine back down into position and begin removing the oil pan. At one point, I was convinced that the previous owner had welded it to the block it was on so tight. The front edge of the pan was coated in gasket sealant.
I also know from past experience that mineral spirits while safe for both paint and epoxyed shop floor, will dissolve gasket sealer fairly easy. Using a spritz of mineral spirits on the starter side of the engine )better access than the header/exhaust side) I used a putty knife to go between the block and the cork gasket and was able to get that side freed up. With a little more fussing, I had the oil pan on the floor. See pic below
For all photo addicted users, here is a pic of the bottom end of the engine.
HOWEVER, I have discovered an issue that I likely caused when I installed the larger bolts to hold the timing cover. As you can guess, I'm sick about it and not sure what to do next.
Can I even find this part? If so can I replace it in place or is the engine coming out? UGH