After market exhaust question?

I just got in an exhaust setup from mac and it looks great. It is basically the stock settup replacement I ordered. My old one was falling apart. The question i have is the point from where the exhaust connects to the motor. Is there a adapter that you have to have? There is about 3/4 of an inch from the motor to the plate on the exhaust to bolt it on. Is that normal? I tried to start it up and do to low compression from the exhaust leaking it wouldnt start I used quick start to start it for a few brief seconds to see where the leak was at. And it was all four of them. I cannot tighten them anymore because it is bending the brackets and is bending the head bolts. I know I am missing something. It didnt look right.

Oh and what about the exhaust gaskets. My bike didn't have a so call gasket. Is that the thing on the end of the pipe that goes in to the motor hole? if so the new set up does not have it. I hope this makes sence I cant take any pictures right now because my camera is broken. Thanks
Josh

 

This a picture of what I got. You see at the top of the exhaust the plate what I was talking about. I doesnt go any further forward than it shows in the picture. So there is about 3/4 inch of bolt showing on both sides.

 

You probably should replace the copper gaskets in the exhuast ports. I believe they are 1 1/4" diameter. If you can pry one of the old ones out and take it to a car parts place, they might be able to find something to fit. If not, i believe you can get a set of eBay or perhaps from Chacal. You definately need a decent set of gaskets from the sound of it. I had a Mac on my Xj650 Seca when i bought it, nice sound and nice looking, but power gains were minimal but for the price it was fine. On my 920 Virago i bought a mac system and accidentally bent the same plate. Once i got the new gaskets, it didn't leak but was a bit...loud. cruzerjd

 

Those collars on the exhaust headers are perfectly normal -- I've got a similar setup on my bike from MAC with the same ones. Also normal that they stay that far away from the engine. Make sure when you're tightening them that you do it as evenly as possible.

If you're leaking, it's almost guaranteed to be the gaskets. They're fit into the exhaust ports, not on the pipes themselves. They can be really, really hard to see when they're all carboned up from years of use. Get in there with a small pick or scraper (BE CAREFUL) and I be you'll find it and be able to wiggle it out.

 

yeah but did you have trouble with the collars starting to bend? And it is ok to have that much of the bolt showing? I just dont want to screw it up somehow sorry for all of the questions. I am going to try to get some exhaust gaskets tomorrow.

Ps with my old system it did leak at all.

 

Yup - mine are bent pretty nicely now, but still hold good and strong. No problem at all with that much of the bolt showing that I've ever found (other than it doesn't look fantastic).

And it's pretty normal for it not to leak with the old system, then it does with the new - they just sit on the gaskets differently, so they don't seal properly.

 

Yeah I ordered gaskets they should be in pretty soon I cant wait to get it back together.