Pass the salt and pepper please.....

 Yup a picture is worth a thousand words, and this one says it all. It takes a brave man to venture into uncharted territory, but venturing into uncharted waters without doing your homework is plain dumb. I prefer to think of it as ballsy, but that's just dressing it up.
What the heck am I talking about? Well there is no doubt that my welding skills have significantly improved since I started this project. But experience plays a huge role and my experience is still a little on  the thin side.
 The other day I was dropping Jeffrey's buddy off at his place, after our outing at the skate park. His Dad, Charles we'll call him (names have been altered to protect the innocent), asked me how "the bus" is coming along. I told him about the latest escapade of cutting and turning the inlet neck on the rad and welding it back on. Being a machinist his eyes widened a little and he said..."Wow! good on you! Pressure test and all is well?" he asked.
 "Uhhhhmmmm,.....ya!....yes it did!"(Ahhh Crap, g%#@#$$%)

Experience would have told me that I should check the welds under pressure.

 So, I removed the vent cock from the top of the rad and placed a pressure reader with a quick connect for the compressed air.

 Taking a page from the Red Green book, I capped of the ends to the rad with good ol' duct tape.

 After I blew the duct tape off with a loud "BOOM" while putting in the air, I decided to use some rubber sheeting backed with nylon tow strap under a heavy duty clamp. Here is the test.

And here is me disconnecting all the pipes and removing the rad so I can take it in to the professionals I should have taken it to in the first place.

Experience would have told me I'm not ready for that kind of welding yet.

Pass the salt and pepper please