So few people follow up afterwards, so I thought I would...
This is what I found when I took it apart. Looks like stuff was blowing past this gasket, and it was potentially not put in correctly when my friend helped replace that thrown rod 5 years ago. There was a lot of oil and gunk on that side of the engine, and a lot sitting on the underside of the frame... It almost looks like we totally failed on tightening the bolts correctly, or something...
Anyway, the new gasket is in.
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