What you're seeing is some shade tree mechanic's over-use of blue RTV gasket sealer. The original gasket was a simple paper gasket that can be duplicated by tracing the outline of the front of the main cap on a piece of gasket paper and making sure it's a close fit where the cap meets the block. Glue the gasket section onto the main cap with 3M yellow trim cement, and run a SMALL bead of RTV along the seam where the cap, block, and front plate meet. There's no oil pressure against that gasket, so it's not rocket science to make a tight, leakproof seal. Just pay attention to detail and make sure the assembly is accurate and clean.
Jerry
