Safe to use RTV instead of a gasket on water pump?

[RICE RACING]

Originally Posted by My5ABaby

I'm installing a new water pump and the housing came off with it. I don't currently have a real gasket for the housing, just the water pump. Is it safe/advisable to use RTV instead of a gasket? If so, what kind of RTV? I have some copper lying around if that works.

This is what would be RTV'd instead of a gasket.

All RTV's are based off *mostly* Dow Chemical Silicone with various fillers and pigments added to differentiate the end sale product.

IF using a normal US based silicone I recommend people only use good old Dow 732 (black, clear or white) pick your color! all others are just poor copies or doctored versions of this........... if its good enough for titties its good enough for your car

I went away from the Dow chemical silicones long ago and use Japanese stuff, Three Bond is far superior and is what is used by the factory in Japan, its much more chemical resistant, tougher, and more durable, and its grey. Before that I used a loctite copy called 5699 ? from memory meant to be an OEM grey harder silicone as well.

You can buy Three bond 1211 at any Jap motorbike dealer typically, it is all they will use, and yes you can use it alone with no gaskets despite there being such a big gap between bolt hole spacings and thin sealing areas like on the water pump housing.

p.s. Permatex is just a retail brand of loctite meant for people who shop at LOWES? or PARTS DEPOT? etc etc. Unltra Blue, Copper etc etc ..... I generally stay away from them... yes I used to deal directly with Loctite and Dow Chemical engineers as a job so know a bit about them