Abstract: A gasket to be positioned between two sealing flanges of an internal combustion engine includes a plurality of stacked gasket layers. Each layer has two opposing generally planar surfaces and predetermined thickness. At least one of the gasket layers has a surface projection at a predetermined height above its generally planar surface and another layer defines a void. The surface projection is situated so that the projection aligns with and extends into the void. The combined thicknesses of the gasket layers is not increased by the height of the surface projection.