In my questions about fixing a leaky valve cover many (all?) reference RTV gasket sealer. What does RTV stand for?

Back in my old Formula Ford days, anything that had a gasket (and many things that didn't like the Hewland transaxle) were sealed with GE Silcone Seal. Any comments or comparisons between GE SS and RTV?

Thanks in advance.

RTV= ROOM TEMPERATURE VULCANIZING. Meaning its a rubber based product that cures without heat.

Well in this case... It's silicon based.

RTV & Silicon are used interchangably in the car world.

Where you get diferances in is the SI formulation. Some are made for specific applications. some are more generally usable.

Yeah,the thinner consistency of the(plain) normal variety is just fine;goes into small scratches,and wets out better than the new formulations(some called super blue/copper/whatever),so I use that kind,even though it's easier to spread the other kind in a thick layer.