What are they?

I like to torque my pan bolts at about 100 inch pounds with a cork gasket especially that is what i found to work the best over the years, if ya get them much tighter the gasket starts to squeeze out.

I also try to make sure the pan rail on tranny and pan is good and dry from any fluid and i dont use any silicone either, just makes it leak better in my opinion.

i've never torqued mine.

I just watch the gasket and torque as evenly as possible. I also put a super thin coat of black rtv on the pan/gasket. It helps hold it in place and seal up some. And I do mean thin, like a blob, then spread it thin with your finger around the pan.

I used rtv already.