OK guys and gals, this is the final solution: I used invisible smoke! Standby:
a) I cut off the top two inches (male part where the cap screws on) of a plastic 600ml coke container
b) I attached the "cone" I made from the plastic coke bottle to the business end of a personal hair dryer with wide masking tape.
c) i was going to connect a hose from the "cone" end of the hair dryer to somewhere on the crankcase of the motor, but much to my surprise, the male end of the "cone" made a good tight seal when I shoved it in the grommet of the valve cover breather!
d) I prepared some soapy water, a small paint brush, to help me make bubbles in any suspected leak areas. I also brought over a length of clean fuel hose to help me "listen" for any leaks.
e) I set the dryer switch on the "cool" setting, wondering at the same time if their was going to be any chance of a crankcase explosion from latent gasoline fumes.
f) I turned the hair dryer on to it's highest fan setting.
g) I put one end of the fuel hose to my right ear and the other end to the dipstick tube (with the dipstick still inserted). I could definitely hear air escaping at that point.
10) I put the hose in the drivers side, rear corner of the oil pan and I could hear some background air noise. But then I put the hose in some other areas and heard the same background noise. i figured I was not hearing a leak, just noise from the hair dryer being turned on.
11) I put the hose in the passenger side, rear corner of the oil pan (where I noticed earlier the locating rubber tab/tit was not protruding through the appropriate hole in the oil pan flange like it should). Here I heard a rush of air 5 or 10 times louder than before.
12) I put my fingers in the same spot as #11, and the force of air blowing on my hand was phenomenal!
13) i did not soap up the area to look for bubbles, it seemed obvious that I had already found an open passage from the crankcase to the outside world.
14) I guess my plans to "borrow" (engine swap) the rebuilt 318 motor in my '65 Formula S to begin the road trip in my '72 Satellite Sebring Plus won't be necessary. I will have the mechanic (my nephew) do the oil pan gasket over again and leave the Formula S vehicle alone for now. And this time I have a proven way to show the work was done right (or wrong).
