never had the exhaust off. Unused internet pics of a removed exhaust to help illustrate.
The oil pump cover has a weird looking single ball bearing . It might be a mute point however as it doesn't person directly to my issue. was just wondering what it was. You can see it better in this pic.
That metal bearing looking thing is a plug. When they manufacture parts, sometimes they need need a hole such as a passage, in a place where they can't fit a drill bit because of a tight corner or other metal in the way. So they'll just drill through everything, then plug the extra hole.