Sorry, By dry fit I meant I fit the retainer without any silicone on it. This was just to hold seal in place while the seal ends dried. I took off retainer to check seal ends were glued together.

After I checked the seal ends and for final assembly, I did wipe a film of RTV on the 2 ends of the retainer top which mate to the block.

The Mancini / oring retainer has on the ends, 4 drilled holes for the oring ends to fit into. I filled those with RTV before final assembly.