height h and the groove depth the range of gaps required between the part surfaces may be calculated and the need for providing an externally supported seal in accordance with the invention may be determined the previously described embodiment represents a seal arrangement developed in particular for use in sealing a rocker cover on an automotive engine however essentially the same general configuration can be utilized in any suitable application for sealing gaps between fluid containers where a relatively wide tolerance leads to a significant variation in maximum and minimum gap figures for a sealed container assembly following is a second example wherein a seal according to the invention was developed for application to the gap between an engine crankshaft rear bearing cap and an associated oil pan semicircular cutout opposing the exterior of the crankshaft bearing cap in applying the invention to the oil pan design it was found necessary to increase the gap between the sealing surfaces of the oil pan and the associated crankshaft rear bearing cap and front cover by an amount sufficient to allow for the relatively large tolerances on the parts to be accommodated and still remain within the range of seal compression which was allowed in order to accommodate the stack up tolerances a substantial increase in the cross sectional length of the seal was required which then resulted in an extension of the seal beyond the groove to a dimension that exceeded the buckling factor by extending more than 1 5 times the length of the supported portion within the associated groove as a result application of.