Main Issue:

Oil pan gasket in 92' 740 base wagon has broken off where the crankshaft cover meets the oil pan.

Backstory:

A 'simple' exhaust replacement has expanded in scope after a stud sheared off during removal of the exhaust manifold. The head was off at the machinist so, why not take the opportunity to do some other things?

Anyway, All seemed to be going well while removing the Crankshaft gear and intermediate gear. No better time to replace the seals seeing I had full access. I could not get crank shaft seal out. I tried numerous techniques but felt that if I kept pushing my luck and score a surface. Proceed to take off the metal crank/intermediate gear cover and remove the seal. I figured this would give me better access to clean up the shaft/seal surfaces and reduce the risk of scoring. Having removed the seal from the cover with the cover out verified that the seal was stuck in there.

As I was removing this cover the thick oil pan gasket that mates on the bottom of this cover broke. Part of it came off. It's trashed.

Question:

I've spent some time reading posts and it's looking like I have a big job ahead of me. Is there any other non-kludgey way to fix this aside from going through what looks to be a major PITA procedure to change out the pan gasket? (I think I know the answer)

Sub issue:

While lightly cleaning the I-shaft with fine scotchbrite/400 grit the shaft moved out of the journal about 1-1.5 inches. I was not expecting it to move so freely. It didn't seem to come out of the gearing, but now I'm concerned and feel compelled to verify the alignment with the distributor. Any tips?

Finally, is it recommended to use seal locker of somesort with the elring seals? Someone had speculated that non OEMs needed that.