Yah! I actually made some progress today! After swinging by Beags house to look at my next project,(thanks Tim)
I made some copper shims for the 4-2 because after I cleaned it up to sell it I noticed the pipes were actually numbered with really small numbers from an engraving pen. My dumb$#%^ had them mixed up and that's why they wouldn't work.
I tried unsuccessfully with different thicknesses but couldn't quite find the right combination.
I was racking my brain trying to figure it out when I noticed something. The older pipes were just a fuzz smaller and I had to grind a bit of the inner flange off to get them to fit and that got me thinking.
The stock pipes must have had a flange that the retainers pushed against to hold them on and the spacers had the same thing, all I had to do was keep the pipes on them and it hit me what I could do. I ground and cleaned the spacers to get them ready
and fit them into the pipes
then I broke out the welder and tacked them to the pipes creating a retaining flange.
you can see it worked! one more thing off the list.
Just two major things left. Spark and seat!