[Gooserider]

I haven't flushed or pressure tested my rad yet, but I did shake the bejesus out of it this afternoon and as far as I can tell, it looks like I have now gotten the rattly bits out of it. I didn't find them on the floor, but I heard them hit, and I can't get any more noises out of the rad no matter how I shake it or (gently) beat on it.

So the next step will be to pressure test it, followed by the 'tubectomy' and deciding what to do about putting barbs on it. (If I do, there will be at least an inch or two of tube coming out of the rad if I cut just before the first bend. It looks like about .625" OD, and about .500" ID, so I can probably get away with just shoving the tube over the pipes and clamping it.)

I also got my first drive waterblock semi-finished up this evening, it isn't perfect, but it will do I feel sure. I need to develop better techniques for bending copper tubing in fairly tight radii w/o flattening it, kinking it, or having it change it's OD @ right angles to the bend excessively. This first iteration took a fair bit of hammer interaction to flatten my cooling loop (32 oz. ball-pein's are handy...) and the end result looks a bit ghetto, though I think it will work.

(BTW, am I correct in my recollection that plumbers solder will *NOT* stick to aluminum? I want to make some jig fixturing and want to be sure the fixture doesn't become part of the block!)

Gooserider