alternative for front transmission cover gasket
 

The part in question: 8540-16-225

could I use anaerobic gasket maker in place of the paper gasket?

Atkins Rotary says they are reproducing it.

Their website also crashed my computer.

I would not use gasket maker since the thickness of the gasket is part of the end play setting in the transmission. I mean, I guess you could get away with it, if you removed an identical amount of shims.

kinda hurts to buy a 10 item and pay 12 in shipping and tax. pay to play, huh?

and thank you

I usually combine orders as much as possible to cut down on shipping, but I also have no problem with supporting businesses that care enough to reproduce weird parts like that.

you might try the miata one, FE50-16-225A

interestingly Mazda stopped using the gasket on these transmissions, sometime in 2006, so you could too.