I am in the process of rebuilding my EJ22 and I used Ultra Grey on the case halves. I just smeared it on thin and slapped the halves together and tightened right away. I tightened right away because thats what the instructions said online a couple places. I was just on the permatex site to see if it would work good on my oil pan and I happened to see their instructions say to install bolts finger tight and let sit for 1 hour then tighten to torque. Now I'm concerned. What do you think? Will it leak? I would have just used three bond but at $60 a tube I couldn't afford it.

three bond and ultra grey are functionally the same and Subaru lists Ultra grey in the FSM because of that.. I've never split an EJ case, but on a chainsaw gasket delete where Ultra grey is also used for the same purpose, we do the same thing. smear it on and tighten it up.

No need to wait. Put in on and tighten. 

 

On something like a valve cover gasket or oil pan gasket, they recommend waiting a short time for it to cure slightly before tightening because that will allow it to seal larger voids. On some oil pans this is necessary.

On Subaru oil pans, it's not necessary. 

K thanks. It's funny because on permatex website it says to wait an hour but if you download the instructions from there, they say not to wait.

There is a big difference between sealing the case halves and sealing a valve cover.  You did right for the case halves as they are much stiffer on both sides and the mating surfaces will not defect when they are torqued down.  It is important that they remain rigid so you want the sealant to be as thin as possible.

 

Valve covers are a different story.  they are not as stiff on the valve cover side and the surface will deflect a little when being torqued down.  For that, let the sealant cure before the final torque so that it is thicker.

Waiting more than 10-15 minutes with Ultra Grey is iffy.  The stuff starts to cure pretty quickly.  Waiting an hour usually means it's pretty well set up and you have to clean it off and start the job over again.  That's a royal PITA with that stuff.

 

Emily