Soda can head gasket

Sorry, I don't have any actual photos because the camera I used got jacked up and the photos were lost. :(

You don't need to spend money to replace your head gasket!  If the one you have is in mostly okay shape, you can cut your own from an aluminum soda can!

Simply cut a large piece of metal off a soda can.  Notice how it still retains the shape of the can?  There's an easy way to flatten out the metal; take a clothes iron and iron it as flat as you can.  It won't be completely flat, but you can get it flat enough to be useable.

If this doesn't make sense, the first part of this video shows how this is done.

Once you have made a nice piece of flat aluminum, trace your old head gasket on it with a permanent marker.  Then simply cut out your new gasket with a razor blade or an exacto knife.  Most of it is simple to cut, but the stud holes can be difficult; the key is to try cutting them a little larger than you'd think you'd need.

When you have placed your new head gasket on your engine and placed the head back on, push your bike forward with the clutch engaged to make the piston move.  If there are any air leaks, you should hear(and feel) the air come out around part of the head.  This is very important to check for because air leaks are very bad for your engine.  The first soda can gasket I made had too much cut off from the center and that's where an air leak came from.  I did a better job on my second soda can gasket, and so far there are no leaks.  If you want, you can use Copper Kote to create a better seal.

Are there any advantages to a soda can head gasket?  Other than costing virtually nothing, soda can metal is much thinner than the stock head gaskets, so if you're looking for both a quick fix and less compression, a soda can head gasket might be the way to go.