Yup, first learned how to make gaskets on this very gasket. Young and dumb, I was asked by a classmate at college if I would change the oil on his '68 or '69 Lemans for a few bucks, circa 1975.
Sure, why not, I had tools, he had the filter & oil, simple job, and making a few bucks meant I could split a pizza or a pitcher. Except, the filter wouldn't bust loose. I wound up collapsing it with my filter wrench and had no idea what to do next. Luckily a good buddy and fellow GTO owner came to my rescue.
He knew the trick to punch a screwdriver thru the oil filter. So tried that next and that sucker still wouldn't move. Finally he suggested we take the filter adapter off the block and take it to a school shop that had a vise. We did that and finally pounded that sucker off. I recall a BFH being involved, it was unbelievable.
Now we needed a gasket to reinstall. Once again, my buddy had gasket stock (why I have no idea) and with the help of a small ball peen hammer, he tapped out a perfect gasket against the mounting flange of the adapter. I was amazed.
Put it all back together. I no longer remember how much the owner paid me or how I split it with my buddy. We probably spent 5 manhours on that oil change for $5 or so.
Whoever had installed the previous filter must have confused the torque for the filter install with the torque for the crankshaft front bolt, or maybe thought 3/4 turn after gasket contact meant 3 or 4 turns.
But I learned some great lessons. I have made a number of gaskets since that day. And I learned even a simple oil change can turn into an auto repair nightmare. I think I've been plagued all my life with repair jobs that "should" only take an hour or two and somehow took the whole weekend. When things are going from bad to worse, auto repair job-wise, I think back about that oil change.
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