Well, still a productive day! She runs and sounds good is always a good feeling.. sucks 'bout the oil seal tho.. Are you going to pull the motor because you cannot drop the pan because it will hit the chassis? Do you know of any parts houses in your area that sells something besides Fel-Pro? That's all that is available in my area, we used to have a different company around here called Detroit Gasket. I used them a few times and they worked ok...

We use rope packing at work for pump stuffing boxes. If you get stuck, PM me and I can get most any width.