Exhaust gasket questions?

At the end of last season I replaced my stock (and very rusty) exhaust system with a new Mac 4 to 1 and I ran into an issue. I purchased a new set of gaskets to replace the existing ones... except I couldn't find them. As I understood it the crush gaskets basically just fit into place and would slide out without an issue when I took off the exhaust. When I looked I couldn't be sure if what I was seeing was a gasket or not and no amount of scraping seemed to loosen anything or show any distinctive edge. Soooo.... I threw the new ones in and tightened 'er up.

With that in mind:

1) How can I tell if there is an old gasket still in place?
2) Will doubling up on a gasket be a problem?

I really don't want to have to take my exhaust off again.

 

i put a little screwdriver on the head right by the studs and gave it a few taps to see what no gasket felt like then put it in where the gasket should be and tapped again, thud, it had a gasket.
i don't think two will hurt

 

What he said ^^^^

Last time I had mine off and replaced the gaskets, when I removed the old ones the part of the head they sit is was a very squared off corner... so if a gasket was sitting in there and crushed it wouldn't be a flat surface with a clear squared off corner to sit in.

 

*ahem*

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=29356.html with pictures.

Sometimes I wonder why... oh, never mind.

 

And now I feel dumb... search fail.

Thanks a ton... for knowing exactly what I was looking for and where to find it.

 

I think it's become clear... whenever I get a question I should just search all of bigfitz52's posts and the answer will be in their somewhere.

 

I put all my "how-to's" in FAQ Suggestions and what I try to do is cover stuff that's not in any of the books. Or enhance and explain the stuff that's not done very well in the books.

There are a lot of good tips and how-to articles by other members as well; most of them in FAQ Suggestions.