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Sealers (Gasket Makers)
Pontiac V8 Sealers (Gasket Makers)
Seal the Joint, Not the Gasket — Sealers (Gasket Makers) for Pontiac V8s
Sealers (Gasket Makers) covers the RTV silicones that seal a joint where a gasket alone will not, or where the factory never used one. On a Pontiac V8 that means the intake manifold end rails, timing cover and oil pan corners, and the spots where a gasket meets another gasket.
Butler stocks the Permatex Ultra RTV range in Black, Blue and Copper, both forms of Permatex The Right Stuff, and GM Engine Sealant. Each one is built for a different combination of oil resistance and temperature, so pick by the joint rather than by the color you have in the drawer.
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1. Which RTV for Which Joint
All three Permatex Ultra silicones will stick to a clean surface. They differ in what they are optimized to survive, and that is the whole basis for choosing one.
| Permatex Ultra Black | Built for maximum oil resistance. This is the one for joints that sit in oil, such as oil pan rails, timing cover corners and rear main cap junctions. |
| Permatex Ultra Blue | The multipurpose sealer, for general gasketing and water jacket area joints where neither extreme oil exposure nor extreme heat is the deciding factor. |
| Permatex Ultra Copper | The maximum temperature silicone, for the hottest joints on the engine. |
| Permatex The Right Stuff | Stocked as a 5 oz cartridge and as a 7.50 oz black aerosol. The cartridge suits a caulk gun and a long rail; the aerosol suits a wide flange laid down in one pass. |
| GM Engine Sealant, 5.3 oz tube | The GM-branded tube for anyone who wants to build the engine the way the factory service procedure calls for. |
2. Sealer Is Not Thread Sealant and Not Assembly Lube
Three very different products get grabbed off the same shelf, and two of them are in the wrong place when they end up on a Pontiac.
| Gasket maker (this category) | Cures into a flexible gasket between two rigid flanges. It belongs on a flange face, in a corner where two gaskets meet, or where the factory used a bead instead of a gasket. |
| Thread sealant | A pipe fitting, a water jacket plug, a sending unit or an oil galley fitting wants a thread sealant, which lives over in Lube/Chemicals along with the threadlockers and anti-seize. RTV squeezed into a tapered thread does not reliably stop a leak and the squeeze-out ends up somewhere you do not want it. |
| Assembly lube | Bearings, lobes and lifters want assembly lube, also in Lube/Chemicals. Silicone has no business near a bearing shell. |
3. Using It Without Making a Mess
The two failures we see are too much sealer and a dirty surface. Clean and dry both flanges, run the smallest bead that will do the job, and remember that anything squeezed into the inside of the engine can break loose later and go looking for an oil pickup. If a joint on your Pontiac is supposed to have a gasket, the sealer supplements the gasket rather than replacing it.
Not sure what your Pontiac needs?
Call our tech team at 866-762-7527. Tell us your engine, heads, car, and power goal, and we will put the parts together as one combination that works.