'97 Taurus GL 3.0L: Front Cover & Oil Pan project

[Colt Hero]

'97 Taurus GL 3.0L: Front Cover & Oil Pan project

205k miles, by the way - for the sake of completeness. I purchased this vehicle brand new in '98.

So I've got the front cover and oil pan off (finally). Next phase is to clean everything and reinstall, but I've got some questions:

1.) When I replaced the intake gaskets on my '02 Impala, I used a razor blade to remove the residual gasket material. That surface was aluminum and it seemed like the razor could easily slice the metal off if I wasn't extra careful. It also took forever. Am I using a razor blade again or is there a better way (solvents with an abrasive pad of some kind, etc.). I recall someone way back when mentioning a copper scraper (presumably because it would be less likely to gouge the metal surface), but I couldn't find one in the auto stores. Is this really a hardware store item?

2.) I've got the blue rubber oil pan gasket from Fel-Pro (with the metal eyelets). I bought it a couple of years ago when I *thought* I was doing this project. Should I use this gasket or just eat it and buy the rigid plastic one from the dealer (which is a new design, I guess)? The Taurus' transmission pan has a rigid gasket and it goes up really easy. Am I going to have a lot of trouble setting this floppy gasket while laying on the ground, or is the rigid gasket not only easier to install but less likely to leak (in which case that would tip the scales)?

3.) When I took the front cover off, some of the bolts came out with a plume of dust (rusty dust)! This is because these bolts have never been removed since the car was built and the cooling system has always had the typical rust issues (regardless of regular flushing, special cleaning with the pH cleaner, and electrolysis checks), so they're orange in color like the cooling system in general. The threads *appear* to be decent. Should I just clean them and re-use, or replace them because the rust may have compromised them? Also, some of the bolts (not all) came out with 1/2" worth of threadlocker on them. This looks to be ORANGE, is that correct?

4.) Big Question: I put a mark on the crank pulley and damper then pulled both off and re-bolted to keep this alignment, however - I forgot to mark the block itself ... I should've done this, right? Am I going to have to go through TDC again to make sure my timing is correct? And if so - the last time I did that (installing the new Camshaft Position Sensor/Synchro assembly), I discovered that the mark was off by about 90 degrees! In other words, instead of being at 12 o'clock, the #1 piston position indicated the mark was really at 3 o'clock, and when I (finally) believed this, everything worked correctly. Can I fix this "offset" somehow? It's the Harmonic Balancer, IIRC.

Lastly, is it all right to leave the front cover off for, say, a week? I may not get back to this until next weekend. I had left the pan off for a day, but thought better of it and put it back up with a couple of hand-tightened bolts. I live in a subdivision, not in the woods, so animals aren't a concern (or insects with the cold temps right now), but is moisture an issue? If it is, I could bolt the cover back on temporarily, I guess...