Gaskets are an important component of every engine, tasked with keeping all the engine's essential fluids inside where they belong. While you should always attempt to use original equipment gaskets or aftermarket gaskets engineered specifically for your motorcycle, sometimes emergency or necessity calls for making your own gaskets. Any good auto parts store will stock different thicknesses of gasket paper, as well as numerous brand name gasket sealers that allow you to make a number of different gaskets for your motorcycle.
Cut a piece of gasket paper roughly the size you need and lay it flat on a clean, dry surface. Your gasket paper should be an appropriate thickness for your application.
Place the old gasket on the gasket paper and carefully trace around the old gasket. Take special care to include any and all holes and channels. If your old gasket is in such a shape that it cannot be used as a template for the new gasket, use the part that the gasket seals to as the template.
Cut the newly traced gasket from the gasket paper. Test fit the new gasket in its place to check for correct size and shape. Adjust it to fit as needed. Apply a very thin layer of gasket sealer to the gasket and install is as per the instructions in your shop manual.
