Ninja,

It certainly won't really hurt things to wait and see if tightening down the bolts a bit solves the leakage problem. There are two tightening steps when fixing this and if the second tighten after letting the gasket set doesn't happen I suppose it is possible it could leak as a result. My guess is that it won't fix it because of how the covers are made and the fact that tightening can't really solve for a bubble/gap where there is no gasket.

I have almost no mechanical skills, and I was able to do this real easily. I don't have a torque wrench and went by feel which I don't recommend but I felt I had pretty good self control

This job could be rushed in an hour or so but take your time and spend the time it takes to get all the old gasket off and everything cleaned off. The point is there is little work here aside from unscrewing them, picking the gunk off and cleaning, apply gasket and stick them back on.

R