Help! exhaust leak!

Just pulled off my 4-1 MAC header and painted with VHT, bought some new copper crush gaskets and very carefully installed pipes, tightened them down, and fired up bike to cure the paint. Exhaust leak on cyl #3, loud :sick:. I loosened the collar, poked at the gasket to make sure it was in place and retightened, fired motor, still leaking. Repeated this several times. The kaw dealer only had one more of these gaskets in stock, and I gotta have it fixed this weekend cause my Dad's coming up w/ his harley. Anyone have a foolproof method of sealing up exhaust the first time (I only have one more gasket)?

(also, each cylinder has three metal washers in the exhaust ports which I imagine are in there so the aftermarket pipes will reach the head)

Last time my Vance & Hines was off for any length of time, I used 2 coppers on each port/opeig/whatever.
No problems at all. Drew the nuts up on the studs evenly and snugged them up.
Good luck.

Can't see how it will matter much if you go with your dad and his Harley. You won't hear it much.:laugh:

Post edited by: nitro3custom, at: 2006/03/09 17:43

I'm actually not too worried about the noise, just the possibility of bending a valve due to air getting sucked into the port.

UPDATE:

Last night I pulled the header again, and reinstalled VERY carefully, with a new gasket on the offending #3 cylinder. Still a small leak, but I think it's safe to ride on... will check with my local wrench. Probably gonna email MAC and ask them what to do as well.

Redlinecycle.com sells copper gaskets that are thicker, seal well and can be reused instead of the OEM gaskets at the dealer.

link
www.redlinecycle.com/exhparts.html