Roger, you may remember that I posted a while back that I am on my 3rd short Ford Racing water pump due to exactly what you have going on. The first one started dripping water out of that spot after a few miles........airfreighted a new one in and I got as far as Daytona before the second one blew out that same gasket at the bottom. I bought some gasket paper and glued the heck out of the new gasket I made, and while I was at it I found the same two bolts loose on my pump.

That pump lasted the weekend and blew again on the way home on Sunday, so I trailered the car home and let it sit until I felt like looking at it again. When I tore it down I found the diffuser plate inside had come loose from the vanes and chewed up everything inside. I called Ford Racing and the guy there told me "We leave those bolts loose on purpose so you can apply sealant to the gasket and then tighten them down." I've been installing water pumps for 50 years and never had to tighten those up, even on reman pumps.

Anyway, I finally figured out that the Zoops pulleys I was running were overdriving the water pump by maybe 50% or more, so it was blowing the pumps apart. I found a company named Runne Rite and they make the correct pulleys which I installed. After all that I now have hundreds of miles on the car and it runs cooler and no more water pump issues. I mention this because you may have a similar issue going on.

As for sealant on that gasket, I used Permatex Gray and it seems to be fine.

Don