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My '48 Custom has a rear main seal leak. I have to leave the flywheel cover off to keep the clutch from getting oiled and ruined. I'd like to fix this and my plan is to drop the pan and rear bearing cap to use a sneaky pete to remove the old rope seal.

Rather than trying to stuff a new rope seal in which will probably be an exercise in futility that will also leak, my plan is to insert a split lip seal if there's one the correct size. My question is, what if any is the recommended split seal for this application and are there spacers involved being lip seals typically aren't as thick as rope seals?

I don't know about the 356 engine, but there is a split neoprene seal that is not quite a drop-in replacement, but that some have made to work, for the 288/327/359 engines. I have no personal experience on that, but here is the thread:

Rear Main Seal Thread: 288/327/359, neoprene