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Yeah there is nothing more fun that brake line and exhaust work. Trying to get rusty bits a part.....

John

Yes this has been so much fun! JW thanks for your suggestion. I would just buy a new exhaust but the thought was I have a decent one sitting on my scrap pile so I would just zip it on the car thinking it would be a quick upgrade. So much for that!

The muffler shop shouldn't charge too much to expand the pipe unless the tubing is bad enough they didn't want to mess with it. No idea what a new pipe would cost to have made. I've never used an expander tool but wonder if a cheap hand operated Harbor Freight type quality tool would last long enough to do a single joint or two.

I was finally able to get everything put back together. I bought a 18" 2" extension pipe with a flair to attach to the existing pipe.

I managed to cut off the end of the pipe with the extra pipe attached (of course half way through the pipe, the extra pipe broke free!) using my cut off wheel in the grinder and a flush saw in my multi-tool.

Once I got the end cut off it was supposed to be a simple matter of putting the flared end over the pipe....nope! It wasn't big enough! I was just about ready to throw the pipe when I decided to try the 2" side and low and behold it slid inside! I guess this whole time I could have just used a 2" extension pipe inside the old pipe instead of trying to put a pipe over it!

Got all the pipes clamped up and lowered the car. Filled the engine with 6 quarts of oil (still showed low and the oil filter wasn't even filled yet). She started right up, and was quieter than before. Still a roar from the front when I revved it up. I wonder if an oil bath air cleaner would make it more quiet.

Anyway the oil light was still on and stayed on even with me revving the engine a lot. I hope I wasn't supposed to prime the oil pump or something. I didn't remove it, just took the pick up off.

Howard mentioned adding an oil pressure gauge. The car came with a 3 gauge set, but I pulled it out because I didn't like the look. Maybe I could add it under the hood until I get it sorted out. Can I add it and still have the idiot light work? Maybe a T fitting? I'm hoping the pressure sender is just going bad.

Glad the exhaust is solved and no need for another tool. You can use a tee for the oil gauge or there are plugs along the entire length of the main gallery on the passenger side that can be used. IIRC, all ports are 1/8 pipe and the tee if used near the sender would need to be too. If the plugs on the main gallery are the screwdriver slot type some may be difficult to remove. I used one of the ports toward the rear on my engine for the oil and made an adapter to go under the head radiator outlet for an aux temp gauge sender. Sort of hid the entire gauge bracket assy low by the battery but still visible

Thanks Howard, I guess putting the pressure gauge back on will be the next project. I actually have an exhaust pipe expander, but it is frozen from lack of use I guess. Maybe I'll soak it in PB plaster and see what happens for future use.

Your oil pump may have lost its prime; hence, no oil pressure after you started it up.

Two ways to fix this. One is to remove the plate from the oil pump and pack the gears with grease. Another way is to remove the oil pressure sending unit and pump oil into the port, a quart should do the trick.

I had this problem when I put my 47 Clipper Custom back together after servicing the oil pan and pump screen. I believe it was Howard who suggested using second method described. It worked like a charm.

You can also do a quick check of oil being pumped by removing one of the oil gallery plugs on the lower right-hand side of the engine. Crank the engine without starting it and watch for oil being squirted out of the plug hole.

Don't run the engine anymore until you are certain that you have oil pressure.

Good luck, JWL

I am referring to the same plugs Howard mentions in post #395.

Thanks JW, I bought a T fitting to add the oil pressure gauge to the idiot light. How did you pump oil into the hole? I have a funnel that I was going to attach a hose to, but I'm not sure if that is enough to prime the pump?

I just used a common trigger type oil can with a snout and pumped the oil into the passage with it. I needed to refill it a few times to get a quart of oil into the engine. I suppose one could rig up a piece of flexible tubing with a funnel and do it that way. Howard suggested pumping oil into the engine method over packing the oil pump with grease. JWL

Though many cars used "1" gauge battery cables as OEM for 6-volt, "0" gauge at the least is the way to go. "00" if you have a very long run like prewar Senior coupes where the battery is located under the golf compartment door.