Once the oil pan and block mating surfaces have been cleaned on any old RTV, I made sure to clean the surfaces with some brake cleaner and a mild scrubbing with a white scotchbrite pad. Then I used THE Right Stuff RTV along the new oil pan mating surfaces. Note that you do not want to apply RTV to the narrow ridge along the front of the oil pan. It is actually the front of this region of the oil pan which mates to the timing cover. The oil pan in this picture is the older oil pan design Andre