sealant on 5vz

I have two quick questions regarding sealants.
1. What is used on the timing covers? It appears to be some kind of foamy type of RTV not so much for a hard seal but more as a cushion and a dust seal. I took everything off the front of my motor to clean up and found this stuff around the holes for the cams on the back side of the black mickey mouse looking plate and also between it and the lower plastic cover that sits around the crank end. I also wonder what the process is for applying it. It almost looks like it was applied to the cover plate in a 1/4" bead and left to set then assembled.

2. Is there actually a gasket on the oil pan? I see you can buy a cork gasket and while reading reviews for one I saw someone complain about bolts being too short. Then I looked at mine (assembled) and mine looks like an rtv was used. If it's rtv I think I will use the permatex made for diff covers. I've found it had great oil resistance and strong. Hard to get diff covers off with that stuff.

 

I don't know the answer to #1, but for question #2, I'd highly encourage you to use Toyota Black FIPG. It'll probably run you $20-25 for a tube, but it's great stuff and I've used it on many valve cover gasket jobs, and one oil pan reseal, and it's worked well every time.

 

Thanks for the tip