spider engine rebuild

["Ed & Marsha Prytherch" <mred2u@domain.elided>]

I am rebuilding a spider engine and I have a couple of questions for the
experts. The car is a 79 with 90,000 miles. It has good oil pressure. The
reason for the rebuild is poor compression on #2 cylinder - definitely
rings. I have had a valve job done and I am about to replace the pistons and
liners, the big end shells and the timing chain. I plan to leave the
crankshaft in place. The inside of the engine is clean. There was very
little sludge in the pan. Also, the cam lobes looked good.

Question #1. Should I replace the cigarette seals? The existing seal seems
to be ok, but I wonder how long it is likely to last. If I change it, should
I remove the #5 bearing cap and replace it and the seal at the same time? Is
this likely to have an adverse effect on the #5 main bearing shell?

Question #2 Do any of the gaskets, other than the cam cover gasket, benefit
from a smear of gasket sealant? I know that the head gasket should be dry,
but I am unsure about the others. The old ones that I removed looked like
they had no sealant, but the engine was not oil tight.

Thanks,
Ed Prytherch
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